Unrecorded: Coffee Time in a Rococo Garden in 18th-Century France

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CHARPENTIER, Étienne, printer & publisher.

[Young aristocratic lady in a Rococo garden.].

Paris, Chez Charpentier, rue. St. Jacques au Coq, ca. 1750-1770.

Very rare, separately issued copper engraving in the Rococo style. The engraving features an elegantly dressed aristocratic young lady, with her dog at her feet, seated in a lush garden surrounded by classical elements, including an ornate fountain and trellises draped with climbing vines. A statue of a Sphinx rests directly behind her—an exotic detail reflecting the period’s interest in the Orient, and Egypt in particular. The central action is the serving of coffee in the Ottoman style: a young liveried male servant attends to her. He holds a slender ibrik (Turkish ewer) in one hand and a tray with a delicate coffee cup and spoon in the other, highlighting the elite status of this imported luxury.

The overall impression is one of opulence, aristocratic leisure, and fashionable exoticism—hallmarks of the French Rococo aesthetic that valued grace, intimacy, and the celebration of refined pleasure.

Etienne Charpentier (1704-1793) was a printmaker, publisher and printer working from Rue Saint Jacques au Coq, Paroisse Saint Séverin (from 1739). Art historian Neil Jeffares notes that there is historical confusion due to the existence of two contemporary engravers named Étienne Charpentier (British Museum, “Etienne Charpentier”). The printmaker working from Rue Saint-Jacques au Coq (the subject here) was born in Ivry-sur-Seine on August 13, 1704 and died in Paris on April 8, 1793. He married Anne Gilbert in 1728, and their daughter later married Jacques-Simon Chereau. The other Étienne Charpentier (b. 1706) was a maître graveur on Rue Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois.

We were unable to locate this print in standard bibliographies consulted, OCLC, the BNF catalog, or other online resources.

* British Museum, “Etienne Charpentier”, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG63276, accessed 12/15/2025; Maxime Preaud, Pierre Cassele, Marianne Grivel & Corinne Le Bitouze, Dictionnaire des éditeurs d’estampes à Paris sous l’Ancien Régime, pp. 75-76; and Marcel Roux, Bibliotheque Nationale, Inventaire du fonds français, vol. IV, pp. 198-207.

Price: $3,350.00