MARK OF LOUIS ROUCEL, PARIS, 1773

Louis Roucel, one of the foremost orfèvres-bijoutiers of his era, was officially granted the title of master by royal prerogative on 23 August 1763, sponsored by Alexis Porcher, several years after his first recorded works. In 1759, he is noted as living and likely working in the house of Jean Ducrollay on the Place Dauphine. On 12 January 1764, Les Affiches de Paris announced his move to the Quai de l’Horloge, près de la porte du Palais, au Gros Raisin, au Ier, where he remained until 1776, the year after his wife’s death. Between 1763 and 1776, Roucel frequently appears in the records of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi, receiving 4,800 livres for jewels supplied for the marriage of the Dauphin to Marie Antoinette in 1770. One of his memorable masterpiece is the famous Choiseul box dated 1770-1771 adorned with miniatures by Louis-Nicolas Van Blarenberghe now in the Louvre Museum in Paris (RFML.OA.2022.30.1).