A FINE FRENCH PARCEL-GILT SILVER INKSTAND

MAKER'S MARK OF FROMENT-MEURICE, PARIS, CIRCA 1880

Details

A FINE FRENCH PARCEL-GILT SILVER INKSTAND
Maker's Mark of Froment-Meurice, Paris, circa 1880
On shaped rectangular base with six lion's-paw feet, with central cut-glass casket on four shell feet, with anthemion and foliage mounts, with removable liner fitted with two silver-mounted glass inkwells and a cylindrical pounce pot, the slightly domed cover chased with acanthus and laurel and surmounted by a shell finial, the casket flanked by two demi-swans displayed, each supporting a columnar candlestick; together with a gilt-metal mounted mother-of-pearl pen holder, marked on the rim of base and cover, on candlestick base, under liner, and on sand-pot
15in. (38cm.) long

Lot Essay

The renowned nineteenth-century jeweler and goldsmithing firm, Froment-Meurice, was founded by Franois Désiré Froment-Meurice (1802-55) and continued by his son Emile (1837-1913). In 1867, an English jeweler described Mons. Froment-Meurice's establishment as "one of the first houses in Paris" adding that its silver "was in the very best style . . . beautiful in the design, and nicely executed." (John Culme, Nineteenth Century Silver, 1977, p. 44, and Vanessa Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver, 1986, p. 382).