Bonne double bierre.
[París, France: Paulot & Carré, circa 1828].
Wallpaper broadside (45 x 51 cm.), with seven-color woodcut (black, orange, green, blue, white, gray, and brown). Printed on a brown paper coated with a pale blue pigment. The text states, "Bonne double bierre", and the scene depicts four soldiers in uniform being waited on by a woman. She pours a seated soldier a drink while another stands with his hand draped around her shoulder. Two more soldiers share a smoke, appearing to have had a few drinks already. Only the woman is clearly not enjoying herself. There are no identifying marks or labels on the broadside or on the matte, but the stated publisher and date, and the attribution to the printers Paulot & Carré, are inferred by comparison with a print of the same series in the collection of the Museé du Papier Peint, in Rexheim, France. That print, with the same text, background color, print colors and rough size, depicts two women and a child, seated under an arbor with a military officer, enjoying a drink. Two exhibitions at Rixheim included that print; three similar prints were included in the groundbreaking exhibition by wallpaper collector and manufacturer Félix Follot, Papiers peints, à l'exposition universelle internationales de 1900 à Paris. Three similar prints were shown at the Exposition (notice 156 "Deux affiches illustrées imprimées chez Paulot et Carré (1828-1830) (Bière, Cidre)" and notice 158 "Affiche illustrée 'Bonne double bierre'" (1828). The two scenes described here were issued interchangeably with a number of texts, including "Bonne Double Bierre", "Petite Biere", "Biere, Cidre", and "Eau de Vie de Cognac". Unevenly cut, with wide margins; affixed to modern matte with two small cloth hinges; one small cloth repair to verso. Some rubbing to surface of print and a bit of color loss to the face of one character, and general light creasing. Still, near very good. Rare. [Félix Follot. Papiers peints, à l'exposition universelle internationales de 1900 à Paris. (Saint-Cloud: Imp. Belin Frères, 1900), no. 156 & 158 (prints from the same series); Françoise Teynac, Pierre Nolot, Jean-Denis Vivien. Le Monde du Papier Peint. (Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1981), page 137; Sotheby. Papiers peints anciens, collection de la maison Follot, catalogue de vente, 7 et 8 février 1982. (Monte-Carlo: Sotheby, 1982), no. 12].
Price: $2,000.00