Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan - photo 1
Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan - photo 2
Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan - photo 3
Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan - photo 4
Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan - photo 5

Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan

Lot 155
07.12.2022 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 9 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 859517
Lot 155 | Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan
Estimate value
$ 12 000 – 18 000
WALDECK, Jean Frédéric Maximilien, comte de (1766-1875). Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d'Yucatan (Amerique Centrale), Pendant les années 1834 et 1836. Paris: Firmin Didot frères for Bellizard Dufour et Co., 1838.

First edition, deluxe issue, of an important and notorious early work on the Yucatan. Jean Frédéric Waldeck was an eccentric adventurer, artist, and pornographer who claimed a variety of nationalities throughout his life; he allegedly had traveled extensively in South Africa and participated in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. The art of Mesoamerica first captured his imagination when he was hired to prepare engravings for the English translation of Antonio del Rio's report on Palenque, a pre-Classic Mayan city. His engravings were beautiful and vivid, adding details not in the originals in order to suggest a connection between Egypt and the Maya.

In 1825 Waldeck traveled to the Yucatan under the guise of working for a British mining company and began to explore its ancient cities, living for a time in the ruins of Palenque. Mexico, newly independent from Spain, was catching the eyes of other colonial powers as well as anthropologists looking for new material to mine. It was not long before Waldeck was hired by Lord Kingsborough to make drawings of Uxmal, which he executed with his usual level of fantasy. He interpreted what he saw in Mexico in the shadow of the ancient Mediterranean world, famously seeing elephant heads among the Mayan glyphs (now understood to be representations of the big-nosed Mayan deity Chac). He dedicated the resulting publication to Kingsborough, launched himself into fame and membership in the American Antiquarian Society, and inspired over a century of conspiracy theories about the origins of Mesoamerican civilizations.

The work was issued in two forms, with the plates colored or uncolored. The former, as here, is the deluxe issue and, according to Brunet, cost 100 francs as opposed to 75 for the uncolored issue. Brunet V:1402; BAL RIBA 3563; Palau 373688; Sabin 100994. See also R. Tripp Evans, Romancing the Maya: Mexican Antiquity in the American Imagination, 1820-1915 (2004).

Loose folio sheets (598 x 427mm). Half title and title page with engraved vignette; engraved map hand-colored in outline, 21 plates on 20 sheets including 3 double-page and 10 chromolithographs (title chipped with some repairs at edges, some light spotting and toning throughout, with a few plates quite toned, slight chipping at edges). Modern portfolio with ties, reusing original wrappers (chipped at corners and worn). Provenance: American Antiquarian Society (blindstamp with "Sold by AAS" stamped on reverse).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
23.11.2022 – 07.12.2022
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.