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Premium DE BAECQUE et Associés - Paris

4 - GASTRONOMY & COOKING. A fascinating collection of handwritte…
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Estimate €1,500 - €2,000
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GASTRONOMY & COOKING. A fascinating collection of handwritten documents: -DU BARRY, Jeanne Bécu, Countess (1743-guillotinée in 1793), favourite of Louis XV. Signed "La comtesse du barry". Louveciennes, 25 February 1783. MADAME DU BARRY'S CHEF. Receipt intended for her head chef, the aptly named Nicolas Tranchant: "Monsieur Jadot will kindly pay Sr Tranchant, my head chef, the sum of three thousand three hundred and fifty seven pounds eight sols three deniers on the first of July next, which sum I will account for by returning the present receipt to me [...]". The name of her cook, almost predestined, sounds quite different in the light of Madame Du Barry's end. -MÉDICIS, Catherine de]. Manuscript receipt on parchment, for the wages of her head cook. 22 January 1584. THE MAÎTRE QUEUX OF CATHERINE DE MÉDICIS. Louis Girardin, "honourable man" and Maître queux of the "cuisine de bouche de la Royne [Reine], mère du Roy [i.e. Catherine de Médicis] gives a receipt for the wages of his Office to Me Raoul Feron, secretary, treasurer and general receiver of the Finances of the Queen. -LOUIS I DUC D'ORLÉANS (1372-1407). Set of two rare documents, written under Charles VI: [LAIRE, Guillaume de (c. 1370-ca 1410)]. Parchment document. 11 June 1403. Thin sheet of paper laminated on verso with annotations in margin. Traces of a round wax seal. Collection mark (stamp forming a star). Minor wetness. Guillaume de Laire, "chevalier Seigneur de Cornillon et grand Maistre Dostel de Monseigneur le Duc d'Orléans" certifies a lack of salt for the said hotel "Je vous certifie que y fault a présent du sel pour la despence de lostel de Mondit Seigneur si en veuillez faire bailler et delivrer à Richard de Fresne escuyer de cuisine dudit Seigneur [...] au pris du marchand sans gabelles [...]". [NANTOUILLET, Ogier de]. Parchment document. 15 March 1392. Vellum tail preserved. Two signatures. Receipt for "Noble home Ogier de Nantouillet ecuyer tranchant de Mos le duc d'Orleans" of 100 gold francs that Jehan Poulain, treasurer of the duke gave him to defray his expenses. Beautiful condition. A cutting squire was responsible for butchering, cutting up and serving the meat. Ogier de Nantouillet was one of the few survivors, along with King Charles VI, at the bal des ardents, a wild masked ball held in January 1393 at the Hôtel de la Reine Blanche in Paris, at which members of the nobility burned in a fire caused by a torch brought by Louis, Duke of Orléans. -CHARLES IER, DUC D'ORLÉANS (1394-1465). Manuscript on parchment. 1 January 1450. Receipt from Hugues Le Bois [Boys] secretary to Monseigneur and Receiver of the duchy of Orléans, for "Jehan que Dieu gart Maître d'hôtel du duc d'Orléans", receiving from Jean Chardon, treasurer of the duchy, the sum of 40 gold ecus in accordance with the letters of 23 September 1450. -LOUIS XIII]. RAVAULT, Claude. Parchment document. 12 June 1648. Receipt for Claude Ravault, Sieur de Pronille, controller of the Office of the Household of his Majesty "confesses to have received from Mr Guillaume Lamy" the sum of 450 livres tournois for his wages. -LOUIS XIV]. Manuscript on parchment, partly printed. Paris 5 April [?] 1689. Receipt from François Martin dit Saint-Martin, maître-queux of the kitchen-common of the Potager du grand commun du Roi attests to having received from Philipe Lefebure the sum of 300 livres for the January 1689 quarter. Autograph signature of the aforementioned Saint-Martin, who held this position until 1692. -HUITRES]. Interesting print entitled: "Arrest du Conseil d'Estat du Roy [...] qui règlent les droits d'Entrée, d'Abord & de consommation sur les huîtres vertes venans des Pays Etrangers [...]". Paris, V. Saugrain & Pierre Prault, 1718. 12 pp. in-4. VERY RARE DOCUMENT. 1456 barrels of green oysters from England [!] arrived at Saint-Vallery [en Caux] in 1713 and 1714 on behalf of Jean-Antoine de La Haye d'Anglemont. 200 barrels were sent to Paris and 1354 were destined for the rest of France. Interesting document on customs duties (5% of their value) for oysters entering via Dieppe; on the different types of oysters in baskets and barrels; on the commercial legislation in force at the time, etc. Very fine and fresh document, with signature of the King's Counsellor-Secretary in fine. -OYSTERS]. Interesting printed document entitled: "Édit du Roy portant suppression des Offices de Pourvoyeurs, Vendeurs de Huistres [...]". Paris, François Muguet, 1698. 4 pp. in-4. Minor paper restoration at foot without affecting the text. A VERY RARE DOCUMENT. Hereditary offices created in 1691 with the following distribution: "six Pourvoyeyrs, Vendeurs d'huîtres en écaille dans nostre bonne ville & faubourgs de Paris, suite de notre Cour & lieux circonoisins", 2 in Rouen, one in Dieppe, one in Granville and Cherbourg, one in Caen and one in each of the other towns of the province of Normandy. This edict was dictated by the hope that it "could provide our subjects with an abundance of this merchandise at a reasonable price". But those who were given these offices so tired the fishermen and sailors of Normandy, "to whom they wanted to take away the freedom to weigh oysters", that the King decided to abolish the offices, giving the sailors and fishermen of Normandy the "freedom to go to sea whenever they please, without permission" and that they could "oistrer and shuck the oysters" and sell them. -TRUFFES]. Print entitled "Conference of Monday 15th March 1638. Des Truffes & champignons". S.l., from the address office, 22 March 1638. 4 pp. in-4 with pagination 433 to 436. Very interesting mycological print from the first part of the 17th century, attributed to Théophraste RENAUDOT, physician and surgeon. Discusses truffles and their development: "Cardan's opinion is that melted snow, which creeps under the first surface of the earth when it encounters any suitable for germinating this plant, produces it. I subscribe to this opinion all the more willingly since these snows were previously recognised as being full of spirit [...] it was the common opinion that truffles come from thunder: either this metereore stirs up the surface of the earth by the agitation it causes in the air that touches it, it awakens the hidden seed of this plant that it retained within itself [...]. It is the autumn rain that makes the mushroom [...]". Long examination of the truffle and its development, its properties, its smell, the truffle in antiquity (Rome, Pliny, Neron, etc.), its properties: it provokes lust, etc. [MISCELLANEOUS]. -MISCELLANEOUS]. Important set of approximately 70 engravings and documents relating to gastronomy. A handwritten menu. Early 18th c. Fanciful spelling. "Menu d'un diner que Monsieur Olivier doit donner a locasion du doctorat de M. son fils". For the "First course": a grand boulit, a chicken soup, a bisque with 4 pigeons, a partridge "aux peti onions"; followed by tilballes de palereaux, tête de veau à l'italienne, dindon, pigeon aux mirliton, fricandeaux, jambon, etc. There follow "12 plat dantremet": "une crocante", a cake, a jelly cake, a "blanmanget" cake, artichokes with ham, a "petite langue" dish, a hare cake, a mouseron bread, a "trufe" bread and 4 salads; a handwritten invoice entitled "Compte pour Monsieur Olivier doit du jour de la feste de Dieu 1703". The names of the dishes invoiced follow: turkey, chicken, pigeon, veal, turkey stew, sausage, tongue and mourtadelle, "a dish of two members a la royalle", veal breast, cream, apserges, compotte, calf's foot "a la marinade". For a total of 378 livres. Followed by a receipt from another hand dated 18 June 1703; Numerous engravings, sometimes coloured and lithographed, depicting scenes of dinners and kitchen-related craftsmen. Of note is an amusing engraving of the "King of Cheeses" with his motto "Je maintiendrai", an engraving of Arcimboldo's Le Cuisinier (bust of a man in profile, made of kitchen utensils), entitled "Cucina" (paper missing and torn away without affecting the figure), invoices, two letters from Dr Michel relating to olive oil, a blank receipt for goods arriving in Antibes, menus, printed tariffs for goods, catalogue of trees (addressed to M. Burignot de Varennes), printed visiting card from Citoyen Payan, merchant of Brie, Langres "percillé & gruyère", on the back of a playing card, autograph cards signed by chef Charles Barrier (1916-2009), chef Jean Delaveyne (1919-1996), etc.
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About the sale PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES - ASIAN ART - JEWELLERY - FURNITURE AND OBJETS D'ART
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Auction time 06/06/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures modified on 06/04/2026 at 11:39 AM
Lot description modified on 05/18/2026 at 5:41 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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