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Lot Essay
SUPP CAPTION: Thomas Germain (1673-1748) and his Wife, by Nicolas Largillière, 1736, Courtesy Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
SUPP CAPTION: Gold dessert spoon, fork, and knife made for King José I of Portugal by François-Thomas Germain, 1764 Courtesy Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon
SUPP CAPTION: Silver-Gilt Dessert Service, by Louis-Joseph Lenhendrick, 1767, in original box with the arms of de Noailles Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1979. Photograph c!!! 1981 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Thomas Germain, sculpteur-orfèvre du Roi under Louis XV, was the greatest silversmith of the ancien régime, famous in his time and today for his highly sculptural designs and exquisite workmanship. In 1723, after a long period of study at the French Academy in Rome, he was appointed Royal Goldsmith and granted lavish apartments in the workshops of the Louvre. Germain's work for the French crown led to commissions from other European courts, including those of Spain, Denmark, Naples, and Portugal. His most famous commission, however, was the celebrated dinner service known as the Penthièvre-Orléans Service, to which he contributed magnificent soup tureens, wine coolers, and the figural candelabra featured in his portrait by Largillière (illustrated here). The success of his career and social standing led to his appointment as échevin of the City of Paris in 1738 and a knighthood in 1742.
The present dessert service is the only known example of this model by Germain himself; the pattern was later repeated in gold for King José I of Portugal by his son François-Thomas Germain in 1764, and in silver-gilt by his apprentice Louis-Joseph Lenhendrick in 1767. The Portuguese Royal example in gold remains in Lisbon, in the permanent collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, and the silver-gilt example by Lenhendrick was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1979. The Metropolitan service, with a provenance in the de Noailles family, was sold at auction at Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 14 June 1955, lot 7, and is illustrated in Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection,, vol. III, 1970, pp. 264-268, cat. no. 72. The Portuguese Royal gold three-piece couvert is illustrated in Leonor d'Orey, The Silver Service of the Portuguese Crown, 1990, no. 57a-c, pp. 177-179, and in Christiane Perrin, François Thomas Germain: orfèvre des rois, 1993, p. 175.
SUPP CAPTION: Gold dessert spoon, fork, and knife made for King José I of Portugal by François-Thomas Germain, 1764 Courtesy Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon
SUPP CAPTION: Silver-Gilt Dessert Service, by Louis-Joseph Lenhendrick, 1767, in original box with the arms of de Noailles Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1979. Photograph c!!! 1981 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Thomas Germain, sculpteur-orfèvre du Roi under Louis XV, was the greatest silversmith of the ancien régime, famous in his time and today for his highly sculptural designs and exquisite workmanship. In 1723, after a long period of study at the French Academy in Rome, he was appointed Royal Goldsmith and granted lavish apartments in the workshops of the Louvre. Germain's work for the French crown led to commissions from other European courts, including those of Spain, Denmark, Naples, and Portugal. His most famous commission, however, was the celebrated dinner service known as the Penthièvre-Orléans Service, to which he contributed magnificent soup tureens, wine coolers, and the figural candelabra featured in his portrait by Largillière (illustrated here). The success of his career and social standing led to his appointment as échevin of the City of Paris in 1738 and a knighthood in 1742.
The present dessert service is the only known example of this model by Germain himself; the pattern was later repeated in gold for King José I of Portugal by his son François-Thomas Germain in 1764, and in silver-gilt by his apprentice Louis-Joseph Lenhendrick in 1767. The Portuguese Royal example in gold remains in Lisbon, in the permanent collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, and the silver-gilt example by Lenhendrick was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1979. The Metropolitan service, with a provenance in the de Noailles family, was sold at auction at Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 14 June 1955, lot 7, and is illustrated in Carl Christian Dauterman, The Wrightsman Collection,, vol. III, 1970, pp. 264-268, cat. no. 72. The Portuguese Royal gold three-piece couvert is illustrated in Leonor d'Orey, The Silver Service of the Portuguese Crown, 1990, no. 57a-c, pp. 177-179, and in Christiane Perrin, François Thomas Germain: orfèvre des rois, 1993, p. 175.