• Production Studio: France Animation (France) • Co-producers: CINAR (Canada), Ravensburger - 90 Original gouache with a complete set of color celluloids and accompanying drawings and originals. - Ivanhoé – Chevalier du Roi (1997) – France Animation - Ivanhoé – Chevalier du Roi (1997) – France Animation – Scène 162 – Origineel compleet - 1997

Ivanhoe – Knight of the King (1997)
France Animation – original production dossier scene 162

A particularly substantial original production dossier from the animated series Ivanhoe – Knight of the King, produced by France Animation in collaboration with international production partners.

This concerns scene 162, a production dossier that was actually used in the production of the series, featuring an exceptionally beautiful and largely sequential series of original hand-painted animation frames, accompanying original drawings, a hand-painted background/master image and various original production and working documents.

Thus this lot is not a ordinary collection of separate animation cels, but a originally preserved part of the production process of a complete animation scene.

The series

Ivanhoe – Knight of the King is the French title of the animated series Ivanhoe – The King’s Knight, based on the well-known figure Ivanhoe from Walter Scott’s medieval world.

The series was produced in the mid-1990s and appeared in 1997. The production included 52 episodes of about 25–26 minutes each. Participants in the production included France Animation, CINAR and Ravensburger; production credits also list Hanho Heung-Up Company for production services.

The series belongs to the period when animation was still done in a traditional hand-drawn manner: animators created individual drawings and intermediate stages, after which the images were transferred to transparent cels and hand-painted. This kind of physical production material is today an increasingly rare document of pre-digital animation production. Catawiki also describes original cels and hand-drawn production drawings as material that comes directly from the traditional animation process.

SCENE 162

The offered dossier concerns scene 162.

On the original production drawings, the following notation can be seen, among others:

“WAGON LEAVES THE CASTLE”

and also a reference to the connection with the next scene:

“MATCH-OUT TO SC 163”

The dossier thus documents a concrete animation action in which a horse and wagon leave the castle.

A particularly attractive element is the large hand-painted master/background image of the castle with the gate and drawbridge. Together with the sequential animation frames, this forms a very beautiful depiction of how the final scene was technically constructed.

Special: sequential animation sequence

One of the most important parts of this lot is the almost complete sequential series of hand-painted animation frames, visible in the production marks roughly from W1 to W37.

It is therefore not a random collection of cels.

The buyer receives a sequential animation sequence, allowing the movement of the wagon and horse to be followed step by step.

With such a sequence it is possible to literally reconstruct the development of the movement:

sequential positions of horse and wagon;
various stages of movement;
individual hand-painted animation frames;
accompanying original drawings;
production marks and numbering;
and the corresponding set and master image.

Thus the dossier has not only decorative value but also clear documentary and cinematographic value.

Original drawings

Accompanying the hand-painted animation frames are the original drawings.

These drawings show the preparatory phase of the animation and make visible how the movement was drawn before it was executed as painted animation frames.

The combination of:

original drawing → hand-painted animation frame → sequential frames → background

makes this dossier particularly interesting for collectors of animation art and for enthusiasts who want to study not only a beautiful final image but also the production process itself.

Also on Catawiki, such combinations of original animation cels and accompanying drawings are offered as separate collectibles; realized prices vary greatly depending on series, characters, quality and content.

Contents of the offered dossier

The lot includes, as far as visible and inventoried:

1 original France Animation production folder/dossier for scene 162
various original production and working documents
a large hand-painted master/background image of the castle with gate/drawbridge
an almost complete sequential series of the hand-painted animation frames, according to the visible numbering approximately W1–W37
the accompanying original pencil/animation drawings
various additional loose original drawings
original production marks, numbers and notes
documentation showing the different production stages of this scene.

It concerns one original production dossier with a large number of separate original production pieces.

A unique behind-the-scenes look

What makes this lot special is that the various parts have remained together as one production dossier.

In ordinary animation art, often only one or a few cels from a production are offered. Here, by contrast, the collector gets a much more complete picture of how a scene came to be.

One can follow the different steps using the dossier:

production folder → production instructions → original drawings → sequential animation frames → hand-painted cels → background/master image → final scene.

This gives the lot a pronounced archival and historical value.

France Animation

France Animation was a French animation studio that played a significant role in European television animation production in the 1980s and 1990s.

For Ivanhoe – Knight of the King, France Animation collaborated with international partners, including Canadian CINAR and Ravensburger. The production was also supported by international animation/production services, including Hanho Heung-Up in South Korea. The available production credits confirm this international production structure.

The material on offer here is therefore not only interesting as an Ivanhoe collectible, but also as an authentic document of how European television animation was produced internationally in the 1990s.

Provenance

The dossier is part of a larger original production archive of France Animation that was acquired in France at Étampes Enchères through a public auction.

The full archive includes a large number of separate production dossiers with original drawings, hand-painted animation frames, production papers and other material from the production of Ivanhoe – Knight of the King.

This Catawiki lot is deliberately offered as a separate, complete production dossier.

It is also intended as a representative example of the contents and quality of the larger archive.

Why this dossier is special for a collector

Most animation-art collections consist of individual cels or a few drawings.

This lot, however, offers the possibility to own a complete animation action in its original production context.

Particularly the combination of nearly complete sequence W1–W37, the original drawings, the castle background image and the original France Animation documentation makes this an exceptionally interesting archival whole.

The individual images are not merely decorative: together they form a working animation sequence, allowing the movement of the wagon and horse to be followed frame by frame.

Condition

The original production pieces have been preserved as material that was actually used during animation production.

As is customary with original animation drawings and production cels, there may be light wear marks, aging, pencil markings, perforations, notes or other signs of the original production process.

The photos form an important part of the description and show the actual contents of the offered dossier.

Summary

Series: Ivanhoe – Knight of the King
Year: 1997
Production: France Animation / international co-production
Scene: 162
Action: Wagon leaves the castle
Production material: original hand-painted animation frames, original drawings, background/master image and production documents
Series: according to visible production marks roughly W1–W37
Provenance: original France Animation production archive, acquired in France at Étampes Enchères
Type: original production dossier / animation production archive