France, ca. 1870. Two single sheets (visible surface: 26.0 x 18.7 cm). Printed, finely hand-coloured chromolithographs. In later, near uniform, gilt wooded frames (41.9 x 34.6 and 35.5 cm).

Two fine lithographs made and signed by the French illustrator Charles Vernier (1813-1892). He is perhaps best-known for his contributions to Le Charivari. "Le Charivari was an illustrated magazine published in Paris, France, from 1832 to 1937. It published caricatures, political cartoons and reviews. After 1835, when the government banned political caricature, Le Charivari began publishing satires of everyday life. The name refers to the folk practice of holding a charivari, a loud, riotous parade, to shame or punish wrongdoers" (Wikipedia). These two illustrations seem to belong to a series named Au bal masqué, but the actual images have not been linked to this series and no similar illustrations have been found in the internet archives - with over a thousand Vernier images - of French and other museums.