{"product_id":"print-le-pot-de-terre-et-le-pot-de-fer-1755-la-fontaines-fables-pre-revolution-france-french-literature-real-french-country-style","title":"PRINT Le Pot De Terre Et Le Pot De Fer - 1755 - La Fontaine's Fables - Pre Revolution France - French Literature - Real French Country Style","description":"\u003cp\u003eTreasures from The Literature Collection at The Willing Mind. By exclusive arrangement with The Grand Review.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrint size 18 x 24, and consciously formatted to work with a standard size store bought frame, or custom framed as you see fit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHoley Moley!  I've gotta write a couple o' fables, QUICK, so I can add 'fabulist' to my resume.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e17th century French fabulist and poet Jean de La Fontaine was one of the most influential and revered writers of the Age of Enlightenment.  La Fontaine's FABLES and the stories and phrases and morals therein are so much a part of the common currency of French language and culture that most people do not pause to consider their source.  The work is ubiquitous and with a ripple effect beyond Europe and into the vernacular of popular American English, though again the source of much of those phrases and bits of folk wisdom are almost entirely unknown to us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpen another window and Google Jean de La Fontaine.  You will be amazed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWritten in the 1660s, the Fables have been printed in a number of editions, both with and without illustration.  In the 1720s and over the next few decades, french painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry painted and drew his interpretations of all the images.  These in turn were redrawn in the 1750s to be engraved as illustrations in a breathtaking, oversized four volume set.  It was a very successful printing, and this particular set would have been found in the very best homes and libraries throughout Europe and the Americas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs with nearly all large format illustrated books of the era, disbound images were available to be framed and hung on the walls of an even wider array of willing walls, and you will still find them at Sotheby's and Freeman's auctions and the like.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so it was a decade ago that I was able to purchase both this and the accompanying print from the 1755 edition of La Fontaine's FABLES.  There were a small number of them in several lots, but this pair had me riveted to the floor, and I still smile every single time I see them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNumerous happy clients have purchased both this and its companion piece in our collection,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHE SATYR AND TRAVELLER \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSee the third and fourth image above for the the companion print.  They are sold separately. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey certainly show beautifully together.  That said, just as many have fallen more deeply in love with one rather than the other, and have bought them as individual prints.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBelow, the fable of The Earthen Pot and The Iron Pot\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHE EARTHEN POT AND THE IRON POT\u003cbr\u003eor\u003cbr\u003eLE POT DE TERRE ET LE POT DE FER \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn iron pot proposed\u003cbr\u003eTo an earthen pot a journey.\u003cbr\u003eThe latter was opposed,\u003cbr\u003eExpressing the concern he\u003cbr\u003eHad felt about the danger\u003cbr\u003eOf going out a ranger.\u003cbr\u003eHe thought the kitchen hearth\u003cbr\u003eThe safest place on earth\u003cbr\u003eFor one so very brittle.\u003cbr\u003e\"For you, who art a kettle,\u003cbr\u003eAnd have a tougher skin,\u003cbr\u003eThere's nothing to keep you in.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"I'll be your body-guard,\"\u003cbr\u003eReplied the iron pot;\u003cbr\u003e\"If anything that's hard\u003cbr\u003eShould threaten you a jot,\u003cbr\u003eBetween you I will go,\u003cbr\u003eAnd save you from the blow.\"\u003cbr\u003eThis offer him persuaded.\u003cbr\u003eThe iron pot paraded\u003cbr\u003eHimself as guard and guide\u003cbr\u003eClose at his cousin's side.\u003cbr\u003eNow, in their tripod way,\u003cbr\u003eThey hobble as they may;\u003cbr\u003eAnd eke together bolt\u003cbr\u003eAt every little jolt,—\u003cbr\u003eWhich gives the crockery pain;\u003cbr\u003eBut presently his comrade hits\u003cbr\u003eSo hard, he dashes him to bits,\u003cbr\u003eBefore he can complain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTake care that you associate\u003cbr\u003eWith equals only, lest your fate\u003cbr\u003eBetween these pots should find its mate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSHIPPING\u003cbr\u003eAll prints are shipped in a sturdy mailing tube for $8, which covers postage, tube and S \u0026amp; H.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBUYING MORE THAN ONE PRINT?  Add a second print or any number thereafter of this or any other prints in our catalog and shipping is still just $8, total!!!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInternational shipping is available and reasonable. Please contact us for details.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA NOTE ON OUR PROCESS, OUR CHOICES AND THE QUALITY OF THE GRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP THAT GOES INTO OUR PRINTS.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery print we deem exciting enough to present to the public via our Etsy store or available here at our studio has gone through a number of steps.  The first of those is always discovering and falling in love with an obscure image, always an original that we can hold in our hands.  That image is speaking to us, sometime screaming “Don’t leave me here.  See what I am, what I was, what I can be, what I SHOULD be!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a real sense of excitement involved, and a great many smiles and knowing grins when we make that deal and bring that ancient print, that battered photo, that scrap of ephemera that contains some scrap of genius from an unknown commercial artist home with us, knowing already how we mean to approach its restoration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is the heady promise of a further hunt just as real as what drags a weekend fisherman out of bed at 3AM to work a favorite brook as we start our research, looking for that great backstory, and both ready and willing to tumble down as many rabbit holes as are revealed to us to get that story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen there is a meticulous digital restoration that is as often as much fun as riding a vintage Moto Guzzi on a winding coastal road.  I don’t care if that sounds crazy, it really is like jumping in the saddle!  So many choices, so many chances to take to subtly or spectacularly give new life to otherwise permanently obscure images.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis dedication and the ongoing rush of joy in the accomplishment of it, and the opportunity to share the results in our studio and here on Etsy, is the fire of passion that keeps these engines roaring. We make every effort to ensure our customers are not just satisfied but thrilled, and we happily stand 100% behind our work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Grand Review","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41064994897978,"sku":null,"price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1960\/8381\/files\/il_fullxfull.557260262_290q.webp?v=1761083377","url":"https:\/\/the-grand-review.myshopify.com\/products\/print-le-pot-de-terre-et-le-pot-de-fer-1755-la-fontaines-fables-pre-revolution-france-french-literature-real-french-country-style","provider":"The Grand Review","version":"1.0","type":"link"}