A porcelain trade card for J. Mennier, Bookseller and Stationer in Louvain, Belgium.
Ghent, mid c19. 7 1/4 x 5 1/4. Chromolithographed on coated white stock in blues, greens, yellow, pink, red, and metallic gold. To show the range of Mennier's wares, this large card is bracketed by a pious woman reading her livre de prière and another woman seated on a stack of ledgers while writing entries making entries in one. Replete with fruits & flora. Putti operate a book press. Removed from an album. Very good. Item #18862
A very fine and unusually large card. Michael Twyman calls Jacqmain one of the most notable chromolithographers. He printed Barbat's Évangiles and many of Midolle's alphabets.
Collecting these carte porcelaine was a popular 19th c. pastime. Most cards on the market today were removed from albums a long time ago.
These chromolithographed cards were produced largely from 1840-1860. Printed on card stock coated with white lead, they appeared to be enameled like porcelain. Michael Twyman writes "This white lead coating was subject to pressure from steel cylinders at the final stage of manufacture, which gave it a sheen and also ensured a perfectly smooth printing surface" allowing lithographic printers "to produce extremely intricate work, which they did by turning to the process of engraving on stone.” Porcelain paper was abolished in the 1860s as the process was toxic.
A History of Chromolithography, p. 422.
Price: $350.00