{"id":1037,"date":"2025-03-18T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shcydigitalchildhoods.org\/dir\/?p=1037"},"modified":"2025-05-13T09:09:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T09:09:33","slug":"the-child-as-rose-a-device-of-noble-lineage-and-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shcydigitalchildhoods.org\/dir\/the-child-as-rose-a-device-of-noble-lineage-and-character\/","title":{"rendered":"The Child as Rose: A Device of Noble Lineage and Character"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1695, Charles Perrault dedicted his collection of fairy tales Tales of Mother Goose<\/em> to nineteen-year-old \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, the niece of Louis XIV. In his dedication letter, Perrault crafted a distinctive emblematic portrait of the princess, employing a device\u2014a symbolic image accompanied by a short poetic inscription. In late seventeenth-century France, symbolic portraiture played a crucial role in shaping the public image of royalty. This portrait, designed specifically for \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte, reflects a broader visual and literary tradition in which noble character was conveyed across generations and between genders. The device Perrault created for her transformed a well-established royal symbol\u2014the red rose\u2014into a representation of the princess\u2019s virtue, lineage, and sovereign potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a previous device designed for Louis XIV, the red rose with thorns signified more than aesthetic grace. A classical symbol of Venus, the rose alluded to \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte\u2019s birthright: she was \u201cborn crowned\u201d and \u201cborn to be beautiful,\u201d a claim reinforced by the motto Je suis belle et suis n\u00e9e pour estre couronn\u00e9e.<\/em> However, beyond its connotations of beauty, the rose also carried military resonance. The Latin phrase Juncta Arma Decori<\/em>, previously inscribed on Louis XIV\u2019s emblem, suggested a duality of elegance and strength, paralleling the noble education that emphasized both charm and command. Just as the rose was both delicate and armed, so too was the princess\u2019s character envisioned as enchanting yet formidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cPour le Carrousel. Divertissement dans la piece de la saison du Printemps.\u201d Jacques Bailly, miniaturist. Devises pour les tapisseries du roy.<\/em> Paris. Bibliothe\u0300que nationale de France. De\u0301partement des manuscrits. ms Fr. 7819. f. 28.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Perrault\u2019s accompanying prose letter expanded on this theme, arguing that noble leadership transcended gender. He emphasized that a ruler must inspire both love and awe, balancing gentleness with authority. Addressing \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte directly, he wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mademoiselle, there is some disproportion between the childish simplicity of these tales and the astonishing cluster of lights that nature and education have gathered in you… But who better to know how people live than the people that Heaven intends to lead them?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this dedication, Perrault reinforced the idea that a princess was not merely an ornament of the court but a future sovereign, shaped by education and duty. The red rose, transferred from king to princess, thus became more than a token of beauty\u2014it symbolized \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte\u2019s place within the lineage of noble power and her destined role in the continuum of royal leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Davis Taylor\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>(she\/her) is a postdoctoral fellow with the Centre for Book Culture and Publishing at the University of Reading, UK, where she studies the impact of book construction and related artistic processes on images of women in Early Modern France. Her current book project explores the place of women in Perrault’s art theory and studio practice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1695, Charles Perrault dedicted his collection of fairy tales Tales of Mother Goose to nineteen-year-old \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, the niece of Louis XIV. In his dedication letter, Perrault crafted a distinctive emblematic portrait of the princess, employing a device\u2014a symbolic image accompanied by a short poetic inscription. In late seventeenth-century France, symbolic portraiture played a crucial role in shaping the public image of royalty. This portrait, designed specifically for \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte, reflects a broader visual and literary tradition in which noble character was conveyed across generations and between genders. The device Perrault created for her transformed a well-established royal symbol\u2014the red<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childish-things"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Child as Rose: A Device of Noble Lineage and Character - Digital Childhoods<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shcydigitalchildhoods.org\/dir\/the-child-as-rose-a-device-of-noble-lineage-and-character\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Child as Rose: A Device of Noble Lineage and Character - Digital Childhoods\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1695, Charles Perrault dedicted his collection of fairy tales Tales of Mother Goose to nineteen-year-old \u00c9lisabeth-Charlotte d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, the niece of Louis XIV. 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