(MAZARIN). INVENTORY OF ALL CARDINAL MAZARIN’S FURNITURE, co - Lot 164

(MAZARIN). INVENTORY OF ALL CARDINAL MAZARIN’S FURNITURE, compiled in 1653 and published based on the original preserved in the Condé archives. London, Whittingham and Wilkins, 1861. 8vo, publisher’s percaline, embossed on the covers, uncut, untrimmed. [2 ff.], 404 pp. FIRST EDITION. During the Fronde and Mazarin’s temporary exile, the cardinal-minister’s riches amassed at the Palais Mazarin were sold by order of the Parliament of Paris. After they were reconstituted, an inventory commissioned by Louis XIV was drawn up by Colbert, who took four months to complete it. Mazarin was a passionate and discerning collector. He amassed vast collections of all kinds: precious furniture, fabrics, tapestries, statues, and paintings. Many of these acquisitions were made in Rome: he subsequently never ceased to bring Italian artists to Paris, and his influence on the decorative arts of his time was such that people still speak of a “Mazarin style” to describe certain pieces of furniture. Always on the lookout for exceptional pieces, he enriched his collections with numerous masterpieces from those of Richelieu or Charles I of England (sold in London in 1650). Many of these treasures are now found in public collections (the Louvre) or private collections (the Earls of Pembroke at Wilton House). Enclosed: (Pompadour). Catalog of the Books in the Library of the Late Madame the Marquise de Pompadour, Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen. Paris, Herissant, 1765 (Malzieu reprint, 1984). In-12, publisher’s blue cloth. [5 ff.], xvj, 404 pp., lxxij pp.