BY JEAN-BAPTISTE DEVOS (FL. 1720-1766), PARIS, 1725/1726, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF CHARLES CORDIER 1722-1726, WITH THE FRENCH RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARK FOR GOLD PARIS 1838 ONWARD; THE FLANGE ENGRAVED GOUERS A PARIS

Jean-Baptiste Devos (fl. 1720-1766) became master in 1720. His workshop was located in the rue de Seine for most of his career. Devos established himself as a maker of boxes 'in the forefront of French taste' (C. Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 37) by working for one of the pre-eminent eighteenth-century goldsmiths, Daniël Govaers (also spelled Gouers), who was listed as Orfèvre ordinaire de la Reine and Marchand orfèvre joaillier de leurs Majestés; another box by Devos dated 1730/31 also engraved 'Gouers A Paris' is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Dozen om te niezen, Antwerp, Provincial Museum Sterckshof-Zilvercentrum, 1996-1997, no. 85, p. 145. Both Govaers and Devos executed elaborately chased boxes, often deriving their designs directly from the engravings of Meissonnier (K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, London, 1990, p. 97). Devos's work is distinctive in its ability to combine the fluidity of the Rococo style with elegant restraint. The present lot's juxtaposition of curvilinear reliefs, enhanced by the enamelled motifs contained in symmetrical panels, aptly demonstrates this.