"[grand?] foquet", 1793, not in OED

[Joel S. Berson]

An interesting path to follow.  Wikipedia says "Jean (or Jehan)
Fouquet" was "the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature," and
his self-portrait is "The earliest portrait miniature, and possibly
the earliest formal self-portrait" [presumably meaning extant].

Although he is 15th century, a bit removed from the 1790s, I suppose
he might have become the eponym of an optical device that allowed an
artist to enlarge a miniature or (small) object into an image on a
("grand") paintable surface.  (The quotation says "The grand foquet
raises the human countenance, or any other object from the size of
miniature to that of life and reflects it with all its tints and
shades on canvass ...".  I am hypothesizing what that meant.)

In any case, I have no alternative to offer.

Joel

At 12/26/2013 01:59 PM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock wrote:
>Jean Foquet (also spelled Fouquet and numerous other ways) was an
>important miniaturist. Maybe it was an optical device that was
>nicknamed for him?
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=DSShAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA311&lpg=PA311&dq=jean+foquet+miniature+technique&source=bl&ots=4hpIgdcUVw&sig=3OF-m75PsTAQweBg7OVcs5zP1pw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MXu8UtXWIZfmoASs3oLIAw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=jean%20foquet%20miniature%20technique&f=false
>
>
>On Dec 25, 2013, at 7:20 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "[grand?] foquet", 1793, not in OED
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 12/25/2013 08:42 PM, John Doe wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 7:40 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> "The grand foquet raises the human countenance, or any other object
> >>> from the size of miniature to that of life and reflects it with all
> >>> its tints and shades on canvass; so that an exact likeness may be
> >>> preserved, tho' so varied in size."
> >>>
> >>
> >> I tried "fouquet" - Le Grand Fouquet is the name of a hotel - and I didn't
> >> find that, either.
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> -Wilson
> >
> > Yes.  I'm utterly mystified what this is, and why there seem to be no
> > other instances in English (aside from a few similar advertisements
> > in EAN -- although I haven't yet gone to British newspapers or
> > journals, ECCO, etc.).  I even thought of "focus", as in changing
> > focal lengths (the "grand foquet" is an optical device, perhaps
> > similar to a camera obscura), but I can't tie the knot for "focus" either.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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