The Triumph of Applause and the Glories of Her Royal Highness Maria Anna Christina Victoria of Bavaria, Dauphine of France, Illustrated with Perfect Letters, Which Contain the Following Verses to be Read in the Image with a Microscope; manuscript in Italian and micrographic drawing of the same text by IGNATIO FRANCESCO MULIGIN and PIERRE MIGNARD(?)

RARE MICROGRAPHIC DRAWING AND ACCOMPANYING MANUSCRIPT FOR A DAUPHINE OF FRARARE MICROGRAPHIC DRAWING AND ACCOMPANYING MANUSCRIPT FOR A DAUPHINE OF FRANCE. Micrographic drawing and manuscript on paper, in Italian, France, c. 1683-84. Drawing: one large sheet, dimensions 630 x 500 mm.; Manuscript: dimensions 335 x 225 mm., 221 folios, complete, written in a cursive script entirely in the hand of the author, in one column of 18-21 lines, catchwords, signatures trimmed. BINDING: contemporary binding of red morocco with a tooled double floral frieze gilt, spine decorated and gilt between the bands, edges gilt, attributed to Bernard Bernache (Métivier, 1998), binder to the king from 1684 to 1721. TEXT: A complete book is concealed within this astonishing and very rare micrographic drawing made entirely from microscopic letters. The text when it is copied again in the accompanying manuscript is a lengthy book with 221 folios. This tour de force of calligraphy is a witness to the early impact of the microscope. Made within decades of the publication of Robert Hooke's Micrographia (1665) and the perfection of the microscope by Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1674), this is a work that illuminates the intersection of art and optics at the end of the 17th-century. PROVENANCE: Written at the court of France for Marie Anne Christine of Bavaria (1660-690), wife of Louis de France (1661-1711), who was the only son of King Louis XIV of France and Queen Maria Theresa of Spain. The manuscript was doubtless written in or near Paris in the years 1683-84, at the royal court, where its author Ignacio Muligin served the Papal Legate. CONDITION: In excellent condition, apart from one spot on f. 173. Full description and images available. (TM 16)