COSTUMES. ARMENIA. GREECE. TURKEY. RUSSIA. [Composite ALBUM - Lot 32

COSTUMES. ARMENIA. GREECE. TURKEY. RUSSIA. [Composite ALBUM - Engraved Suites]. (XVIIth-XVIIIth). Small folio (34 x 23.5 cm). 66 etchings in black, 60 of which watercolored or gouached at the time. Eighteenth-century tan half-basane (numerous wear and tear defects and soiling, large light brown stains on some plates, paper restorations on several as well as plates lined with sometimes thick laid paper, uneven edges, very rubbed binding). This album is composed of various types of engraved costumed figures, generally all framed and with a title or description printed or engraved at the bottom of the frame. The aim is to detail the various types of men and women in costume from the Middle East and Mediterranean basin: Armenian, Greek, Ottoman or Russian... The plates come from a variety of sources and authors, including George de La Chappelle's Recueil de divers portraits des principales dames de la Porte du Grand Turc, tirée ["sic"] au naturel sur les lieux (1648), as well as figures engraved by Nicolas Bonnart after Schoonebeeck, Berain, Mariette, Dieu or Antoine Bonnart, known from 17th-century Recueils de modes. Some of the plates have been colored with gouache, probably an old technique but more crudely done than the watercolors we usually come across, giving this album a slightly baroque look. Scattered among the oriental costumes or ladies in dress are a few popular caricatures or satirical figures, sometimes found in peddling literature of the period.