It contains some 45 intricately worked examples on a wide range of themes – the two very different examples featured here depicting a monitor lizard and a leafy bower in which Cupid appears to have forsaken his customary bow and arrows in favour of a grotesque mask.
In many of the paper-cuts the subjects are also accompanied by verses.
A likeness in minutes
A leaf from the scrapbook of Auguste Edouart’s works bid to £1300 in a TW Gaze sale.
Bid to £1300 in a January 23 sale held by TW Gaze (18% buyer’s premium) was a scrapbook containing some 63 cut-out silhouettes attributed to Auguste Edouart (1789-1861).
Born in France, he travelled extensively in Europe and the US offering his services and producing likenesses for customers in just minutes, it is said.
In 1829 he settled in Edinburgh for a period of three years, and during that time, produced no fewer than 5000 silhouettes.
