[Planches Instruments de musique] Plates from the Encyclopédie: 'Instrumens de Musique' - 'Laminage du Plomb' - 'Lavures de Cendres d'Orfevrerie' - 'Layetier' - 'Lunetier'- 'Luthier' - d'Alembert, Jean Le Rond 1717-1783; Diderot, Denis 1713-1784; Benard, Robert 1734-1777 (s.l. Briasson; David; Le Breton, 1786)
From the Encyclopédie (Diderot / D'Alembert) : Recueil de planches, sur les sciences et les arts
17 plates on musical instruments depict various kinds of instruments sorted in categories: strings, winds, keyboards, ancient, hebrew, etc.
12 plates on 'Laminage du Plomb' depict the tools and workplace set up of plumbers, including cross section views of their machines.
1 plate on Lavures de Cendres d'Orfevrerie (extracting silver and gold from mixed materials by melting); 2 plates on tools and products of a 'Layetier' (wooden box maker); 4 plates on the 'Lunetier' (lens maker).
21 plates on the products and tools of a 'Luthier': the 'harpe organisée' and its pedals, various parts of the organ, tools for making string instruments, winds instruments, and harpsichords.
All plates have the signature: "Benard direxit".Wikipedia: "The signature "Benard fecit" on plates probably indicates the work of his own hand; the signatures "Benard Direx" and "Benard Direxit" indicate the work of the atelier of engravers he directed for many years."
Keywords: 18th Century (1701-1800); Organology; Encyclopedia; France