Hippolyte-Pierre Delanoy

Son of the painter and decorative artist Jacques Delanoy, Hippolyte Pierre Delanoy (1849–1899) began his training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, before entering the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. There he was the pupil of some of the great names in the art of the second half of the nineteenth century, such as Léon Bonnat, Charles Gleyre and Antoine Vollon. He officially began his career at the Salon in Lyon in 1863, and from 1868 until his death exhibited regularly at the Salon, where the French State bought some of his works.

Though he tackled a wide range of subjects, he excelled above all in the production of still lifes. He was renowned for the fine detail in his depiction of objects, especially armour, arms and historical objects, often accompanied by an open book, such as a Quran or a Bible.

The present Still Life with a Quran, following in the same vein as The Armour of the Faithful, (1881, Sotheby’s, London, 25 October 2022, lot 38) and India and the Orient (circa 1883, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, RF 400), is a perfect example. Mixing Western and Eastern cultures, in response to the taste of his period, he presents us with a group of historical, military and religious objects. A closed helmet – an armet or a burgonet – decorated with coloured feathers stands on a pile of ancient books. At their base is a laurel branch. In the foreground, resting on an open Quran, there is a Persian Qâdjâr helmet (khula-khud) with peacock feathers and a yatagan with an ivory or bone handle, both damascened, as well as a gilt ornament set with turquoises, probably a châtelaine.