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A LOUIS XVI SPLIT-PEARL SET AND ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH AN ENAMEL PLAQUE

BY JOSEPH-ETIENNE BLERZY (FL. 1768-1808), MARKED, PARIS, 1782, WITH THE FIRST CHARGE AND DISCHARGE MARKS OF HENRY CLAVEL 1780-1782, STRUCK WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 218, LATER STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD, THE FLANGE ENGRAVED WITH RETAILER'S NAME DU·PETIT·DUN·KERKE

Details

A LOUIS XVI SPLIT-PEARL SET AND ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH AN ENAMEL PLAQUE
by Joseph-Etienne Blerzy (fl. 1768-1808), marked, Paris, 1782, with the first charge and discharge marks of Henry Clavel 1780-1782, struck with inventory number 218, later struck with two Parisian post-1838 restricted warranty marks for gold, the flange engraved with retailer's name DU·PETIT·DUN·KERKE
Oval box, the cover, base and four side panels engine-turned with a wavy moiré pattern and enamelled with semi-translucent pink decorated with white vermiculé, within fluted gold and white enamelled borders, the cover centred by an oval slightly convex enamel plaque painted with a mythological scene depicting a warrior presenting a letter to a seated lady, within a bright-cut gold rim, surrounded by a matted gold border set with split-pearls alternating with translucent green and opaque white enamelled flowerheads, the side pilasters similiarly adorned, the broad frosted gold borders inset with split-pearls and translucent green enamelled foliate garlands
3 5/16 in. (84 mm.) wide

Provenance

Thomas Pietri; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4-5 March 1901, lot 134.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Carolyn Sargentson (Merchants and Luxury Markets, London, 1996, pp. 119-127) gives an excellent account on Charles Raymond Granchez, the celebrated marchand mercier whose shop 'Au Petit Dunkerke' flourished between 1767 and 1787 at 3 quai de Conti at the corner of the rue Dauphine. She points out that Granchez obviously stocked boxes which reflected current fashions and 'successful' models. Gold boxes enamelled with a vermiculé decoration appear to have been en vogue in the very first years of the 1780s (see Christie's, Geneva, 14 May 1985, lot 145, Sotheby's, Geneva, 16 November 1989, lot 162 and 19-20 May 1997, lot 389).
For two other boxes by Blerzy, see lots 38 and 96.

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