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two old paper pictures of a man and a woman on a boattwo pieces of old paper with cut out shapes on themtwo plates with a drawing of a group of people in a circletwo white discs with holes in them on a white surface
VICHY ENCHERES

158 - A set comprising two complete ‘Jansenist turnstiles’. One of…
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Estimate €400 - €600
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Description
A set comprising two complete ‘Jansenist turnstiles’. One of the two discs is mounted on a pivot encircled by a fragment of a playing card, the lower half of a ‘Parisian’ jack of spades [HOGIER], almost certainly dating from the period 1719–1745. Etching, 18 x 14.5 cm, c. 1730. A few pinholes, water stains, paper yellowed with age, no tears, clear and sharp impression, complete copies. A ‘Jansenist turnstile’ (a term coined by Augustin Gazier, a historian of Jansenism, in his 1909 book) is a satirical game consisting of a disc engraved with figures facing each other in pairs, a Jansenist figure and a ‘Roman’ opponent (usually a Jesuit), positioned behind a rectangular print, engraved on the front with religious allegories and featuring a triangular cut-out window. The game involves rotating the disc so that the ‘good’ figure (the Jansenist) appears on the left in the window, and the ‘bad’ figure (the Jesuit or other representative of the official Church) on the right. The openwork, engraved print depicts the two opposing ‘camps’: on the right, Saint Peter’s denial beneath a sky darkened by gloomy clouds, amidst which float the papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter; on the left, Saint Paul points to the sun dispelling the clouds and illuminating the world. (The Jansenists readily contrasted the darkness of ‘Roman obscurantism’ with the light of the ‘true truth’—their own, of course.) Jansenist turnstiles are extremely rare. The BNF holds a disc (without the openwork stamp) identical to one of the two in this lot; the Port-Royal library has two, one of which is incomplete; a third is in a private collection. One of the two turnstiles presented here has not been published to date. Bibliography: - Augustin GAZIER, *Port-Royal in the 17th Century: Images and Portraits with Historical and Iconographic Notes*, Paris, 1909, pl. 119 - Daniel CREPIN, ‘The Jansenist turnstiles’, *Le Vieux Papier*, issue 418, Oct. 2015, pp. 553–561 and issue 419, Jan. 2016, pp. 25–34. - Albert BEGUIN, “Pascal par lui-même”, *Collection Écrivains de toujours*, Le Seuil, 1952, p. 127 Expert: Mr Thierry DEPAULIS
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About the sale BEAUTIFUL LIVE SALE OF PAINTINGS, FURNITURE & OBJETS D'ART
Auction location
Auction time 08/13/2026 at 1:45 PM
Ref. : 2433 - 196
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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