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Lot Essay
In the mid-18th century there are frequent references to boxes with enamelled flowers in relief and a box by Frémin with similar enamelled floral decoration was sold Christie's, Geneva, 15 November 1988, lot 236. Exotic birds in decorative scenes were particularly popular subjects on gold boxes during the 1750s and early 1760s. Two artists, Ledoux and Evans, at the French royal porcelain factory at Sèvres specialised in bird painting, see A. Somers Cocks and C. Truman, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Renaissance jewels, gold boxes and objects de vertu, London, 1984, pp. 202-203.
Jean Frémin, the son of a goldsmith, attained the maîtrise on 24 September 1743, at which time he was living in the Rue St Louis. Five years later he had moved to Rue de l'Arbre Sec, but by the time the present box was made he had moved again and was living on the Quai de l'Horloge. He is recorded at several other addresses, and probably retired in 1783, when he is described as 'ancien orfèvre'. To judge from an inventory made at his death in 1786, he made a comfortable living as a goldsmith. His apartment was well furnished; a chest contained silver cups and flatware, though the candlesticks in his bedrooms were only plated.
Gold boxes by Jean Frémin are in the collections of the Louvre, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wallace Collection.
Jean Frémin, the son of a goldsmith, attained the maîtrise on 24 September 1743, at which time he was living in the Rue St Louis. Five years later he had moved to Rue de l'Arbre Sec, but by the time the present box was made he had moved again and was living on the Quai de l'Horloge. He is recorded at several other addresses, and probably retired in 1783, when he is described as 'ancien orfèvre'. To judge from an inventory made at his death in 1786, he made a comfortable living as a goldsmith. His apartment was well furnished; a chest contained silver cups and flatware, though the candlesticks in his bedrooms were only plated.
Gold boxes by Jean Frémin are in the collections of the Louvre, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wallace Collection.