first edition Hardcover
1991 · Milan, Italy
by Erté (Romain de Tirtoff); Livio Cerini di Castegnate [Art Deco] [Spirits]
Milan, Italy: Franco Maria Ricci, 1991. First edition, limited. Hardcover. Very good +. 123pp. Slender octavo [27 cm] Black silk cloth, titled in gilt, and with a shiny pictorial paper label on the front cover. With 5 lavish tipped-in color plates. The extremities are just a trifle bumped. In the black thin card slipcase with faint scratching. Exquisitely designed by Franco Maria Ricci. Published one year after Erté's passing at the age of 98. This book is number 1854 in an edition of 2,000.
From the Preface-
"At the age of ninety-two, he [Erté] was invited to Jarnac for a first meeting with the Courvoisier company to examine an ambitious project. With the enthusiasm of a neophyte, he agreed to create a cognac decanter and to decorate it. From the start, he was helped and inspired in his choice of images by a look at the various steps in the production of Cognac, a liquid which he appreciated, while finding it mysterious and even mystical...
"He did not hesitate to transcribe into his dreamy language some of the symbol for Courvoisier; the grapevine, the wine harvest, the sacred fire of distillation, and the time conceded to aging. He also studied many other subjects for the collection of prestigious decanters. (Inventory #: 58357)
From the Preface-
"At the age of ninety-two, he [Erté] was invited to Jarnac for a first meeting with the Courvoisier company to examine an ambitious project. With the enthusiasm of a neophyte, he agreed to create a cognac decanter and to decorate it. From the start, he was helped and inspired in his choice of images by a look at the various steps in the production of Cognac, a liquid which he appreciated, while finding it mysterious and even mystical...
"He did not hesitate to transcribe into his dreamy language some of the symbol for Courvoisier; the grapevine, the wine harvest, the sacred fire of distillation, and the time conceded to aging. He also studied many other subjects for the collection of prestigious decanters. (Inventory #: 58357)