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L'Histoire naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, la Conchyliologie, qui traite des coquillages de mer, de rivière et de terre

Engraver Quentin Pierre Chedel French
1757
Not on view
Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville’s treatise on shells was extremely popular in eighteenth-century France when collecting and scientific inquiry were closely linked. Many art collectors had shell collections as well, including François Boucher, who designed the frontispiece and Dezallier d’Argenville, who wrote and published the book.

The remainder of the plates may well have been designed by Dezallier d’Argenville himself whose collection was the basis for the plates. He was a connoisseur and artist, garden designer, and naturalist, and had studied engraving under Bernard Picart, painting with Roger de Piles, and architecture with Alexandre Le Blond.


This copy of the 1757 edition features delicately hand-colored plates.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: L'Histoire naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, la Conchyliologie, qui traite des coquillages de mer, de rivière et de terre
  • Author: Antoine Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville (French, Paris 1680–1765 Paris)
  • Artist: François Boucher
  • Engraver: Quentin Pierre Chedel (French, Châlons-en-Champagne 1705–1763 Châlons-en-Champagne)
  • Date: 1757
  • Medium: Two volumes in one, quarto; engraved frontispiece and 40 engraved plates with contemporary watercolor, sections with engraved headpieces, text ruled in red throughout
  • Dimensions: 11 1/4 × 8 1/4 in. (28.6 × 21 cm)
  • Classifications: Prints, Albums
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2023
  • Object Number: 2023.167
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The Theory and Practice of Gardening : Wherein is Fully Handled all that Relates to Fine Gardens, Commonly called Pleasure-Gardens, as Parterres, Groves, Bowling-Greens &c. ...., Antoine Joseph Dézallier d'Argenville French, Illustrated book, London: printed by Geo. James, 1712
The Theory and Practice of Gardening : Wherein is Fully Handled all that Relates to Fine Gardens, Commonly called Pleasure-Gardens, as Parterres, Groves, Bowling-Greens &c. ....
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