Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47241

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47241

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour Letter Written Entirely in her Hand (Unsigned). One page of bifolium, 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches; [Versailles, France]; circa 1760. Written in French to the Duc de La Valliére, in full [English translation]:

"The King will pay the 9,178 écus for clothing of 1759, for 62 we shall see. I suspect that His Majesty could well grant the pension to Mrg de Vinfrain. Tell him that the King will be Tuesday around midday at the old post, that the torrents being very frightening as well as the floods, His Majesty will be quite pleased to find in the snuffbox only a filet of hare, and that he will take good care to remain determined, for fear of causing the game to flee. On this, Mrg, I assure you of my profound respects." Unsigned.

Written by Louis XV's former mistress turned chief confidante and most influential adviser, Madame de Pompadour balanced state business with the King's personal life: arranging a hunting outing with the Grand Falconer, settling royal clothing debts, and quietly advancing the fortunes of favored families such as that of de Vinfrain, whose children were personally sponsored by the King and Pompadour. What appears here as routine, is in fact, a revealing glimpse of the quiet but formidable authority she exercised behind the throne every day.

Condition: Toned with flattened folds, and creasing. Scattered staining and foxing. Pencil notation at top left. Additional soiling on address leaf, areas of separation to horizontal folds along left margin, with two small holes at intersections. Loss along left margin from wax seal.

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