Lot 5180: OPPENORT, GILLE MARIE. 1672-1742.

Oeuvres... 2e. recueil: frises, panneaux, pendules, pilastres, cartouches, feux, fontaines, gaines, profils de moulures, etc. Paris: Huquier, [c.1725]. 11 (or 12?) parts in one volume, bound with a number of related plates or suites of plates by Oppenort. In all, 117 engraved plates: 2 engraved titles; the main run of 11 parts with 74 plates only (of 78?), each part being 6 plates including engraved title, except parts 8 and 9 which have 12 smaller plates arranged 2 per sheet; a possible 12th part comprises 11 (of 12?) unnumbered smaller plates of fountains; the remaining plates include a group of 8 small but highly elaborate frames, 4 overdoors, and 9 plans and elevations of the home of Mr. Crozat at Montmorency. 4 of the plates printed in sanguine, crimson or blue. Folio (430 x 285 mm). Eighteenth century mottled calf, spine gilt. A number of the plates inlaid in larger sheets (particularly the smaller plates), occasionally with minor repairs on verso without loss, binding with light edge-wear.

A finely-executed display of rococo style, ranging from wall-mouldings to niches, friezes, urns, pedestals, fountains, carpentry, curlicues, frames and neo-classical exteriors. Oppenort was Director-General of Buildings and Gardens for the Duke of Orléans, then regent. He was responsible for the completion of the church of S. Sulpice in Paris, and was influential in the development of the Louis XV style. Another of Oppenort's works was described as "one of the finest books on decorations of the 18th century" (Lewine). Sold as a collection of plates.
See illustration.