THE BOOK-PLATE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE

BY CH[ARLES] EISEN

The engraved book-plate is in portrait orientation with a uniform light grey border. The image has another inner border that is carved to look like a wooden painting frame. The sides and top of the frame have tendrils of garland coiling around them. Across the bottom of the frame hangs a larger wreath of garland that borders a cartouche. The cartouche is bordered at the top with a shorter wreath of garland. On the cartouche are the words “Bibliothèque de Madame la Dauphine. N° I.” (Library of Madame la Dauphine, i.e., Marie Antoinette, last Queen of France). The painting frame is rectangular and uniform except for at the bottom where it hooks around the cartouche. Running perpendicular between the edges are thin and tightly spaced lines. The frame does not encompass the outer sections of the bottom wreath. These parts of the wreath rest instead on an attachment below the frame. This section below the frame has the same dimensions as the frame itself. The rest of the image within the frame consists of a central female figure (the Queen) with two women on each side of her. Flying with wings above is a winged figure, and above him is the back half of a horse standing on a cloud and pulling a chariot to the left off the picture plane. The angel or winged figure, possibly Hyperion, is flying down towards the central figure and is wearing loose flowing robes. In his right hand he holds a torch which is shining a beam of light directly onto a magnifying glass he holds in his left hand. Of the five figures on the ground, the left-most is also winged. She has dark robes that extend to her feet and a wreath in her hair. She faces right with her left hand extended palm up and a tome or book in her right hand that she is presenting to the central woman. The central woman/Queen is wearing an ornate eighteenth-century gown. The skirts flow down to her feet, and her petticoat consists of ruffles down the sleeves to her elbows. Her right hand is gripping the tome or book. Her head is turned to face the winged woman on her right. All the other figures are looking at the centre figure. The other three figures are all wearing chitons that extend to their knees. Two of the three stand behind the central woman looking over her shoulder. The third stands at the right edge of the book-plate with her left hand extended out and wrapped in garland that extends from the frame. On the ground between the winged woman and the central woman rest a harp and a violin.

MLA citation:

Eisen, Ch[arles]. “The Book-plate of Marie Antoinette.” The Savoy, vol. 6, October 1896, p. 53. The Savoy Digital Edition, edited by Christopher Keep and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra 2018-2019. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019, https://1890s.ca/savoyv6_eisen_antoinette/

magazine_images The Savoy 6 The Book-plate of Marie Antoinette Ch. Eisen Bookplate Paul Naumann

“Bibliothèque de Madame la Dauphine. N° I.”

France and Paris Book/bookcase, Violin, Garland, Wreath, Cartouche, Torch, Harp, and Chariot Hyperion and Marie Antoinette 18th century