Characterum, quae in iconibus ossium capitis occurunt. Album XVIIIe d'aquarelles anatomiques, dans une reliure de Jean Després.

[ANONYMOUS]. Characterum, quae in iconibus ossium capitis occurrunt. S.d. [late 18th century]. 31 x 20,5 cm, n.p., [1] f. of table and [28] plates + [4] free ff., watermarked paper C & I Honig. Bound in green tinted half vellum with corners, hammered silver metal binding-sleeve, decorated on the first cover with motifs freely inspired by the morphology of bones and titled "STOMA". Binding signed by Jean Després (last plate). Album entirely handwritten, drawn and painted in watercolor dedicated to the bones of the head, with legends. Drawings and colors are of a great finesse. Attached on free sheets are a text on glands, two anatomical diagrams of the "neck" area, captioned on the drawing, and a diagram of the arm muscles, captioned on a separate sheet. Very beautiful album perfectly preserved, in an ideal case-binding of the goldsmith-jeweller Jean Després (1889-1980), one of the masters of the Art Deco jewelry, creator close to the artistic avant-gardes of his time (Braque, Vlaminck, Chirico, Modigliani), who was a pioneer in the aesthetic renewal of goldsmithing. It is exceptional in the 20th century for a renowned jeweler to conceive such a case for a book: one recognizes here Després' taste for experimentation, the great freedom he took in the choice and the making of his creations, where he privileged strong compositions and the expressiveness of the material itself. In addition to the perfection of the case, we must also mention the exceptional quality of the anatomical drawings. In every respect, unique!