FRANCE | A pair of trompe-l'oeil engravings of assignats, c.1797

FRANCE–HUNNIN, JOSEPH ENGRAVER

“PAPIERS MONNOIES ET AUTRES DE LA REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE”. [MALINES: J. HUNNIN, C.1797]

A pair of trompe-l'oeil engravings of assignats, hand-coloured, each 540 x 450mm., framed and glazed, some light browning

Assignats were paper money issued during the French Revolution to forestall bankruptcy, backed by the value of property confiscated from the Catholic Church. Originally intended as a bond, the assignat became legal tender in 1790. Their ubiquity and uncontrolled circulation triggered a major hyperinflation crisis.

Such was the decline in value and unpopularity of the currency, that on 19 February 1796, assignats and their printing plates were burned symbolically in the Place Vendôme.

These trompe-l’oeil engravings show various forms of the currency; the second engraving (apparently the rarer of the two) has a picture of a beggar holding out his hat front and centre.

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