"Généalogie et descente de la noble famille de Grassis alliée à Blondel.

C. 110 x 73 cm, consisting of 2 sheets of vellum glued together, brown ink, in French, miniature, coats of arms and ornaments in watercolours (some minor soiling, sm. tears and wormtrack in the lower margin).

Scroll nailed to two old wooden rods, old ms. title label on upper bar (1 knob missing on the lower rod, some nails replaced with pushpins). Very good condition.

Nice genealogical table of the Grassi(s) family related to the Blondel d'Oudenhove, richly illustrated with num. coats of arms in colour with detailed genealogical notices, a miniature portrait of Charles Grassi nicknamed Malatesta, Lord of Cantu, "ambassadeur du pape" (14th c.) and his wife (unknown), accompanied on the sides by 2 cartouches with a "Description de la très noble et illustre maison de Grassis" and a presentation of the table in the form of a letter to Madame Blondel, signed by the author. The Grassis are an old and prominent family from Bologna. In the mid-17th c., Pierre Blondel Lord of Oudenhove, "conseiller du roi au parlement de Malines", married Marguerite, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Grassis (Bruges 1577-1664) and Barbe Stalins. Our table is signed by the famous J. de Launay, king of arms of Brabant, who was, with his brother Pierre-Albert, a prolific seventeenth century genealogist settled in the Spanish Low Countries. They are known to have forged false genealogical trees and have falsified official documents, certificates, patents, genealogies… Their careers ended in judicial troubles, the outcome of which was tragic for Jean, executed in 1687. Many of their works, conserved in public and private collections, continue to be problematic to this day.
Ref. Dominique Delgrange, "A culture of forgery. The de Launay Brothers and heraldic fraud in the 17th century", in Dix-septième siècle, Vol. 291/2, April 2021, pp. 119-139.