拍品 41
41
A FRENCH MASTERPIECE KEY, the pierced, lantern-shaped body with strap-work decoration, surmounted by a shaped dome similarly decorated, and an acanthus leaf finial, the cylindrical ferrule with double coiled rosettes, flanked by grotesque masks, on a pierced, rectangular plinth, and a fine-toothed bit, late 17th Century

細節
A FRENCH MASTERPIECE KEY, the pierced, lantern-shaped body with strap-work decoration, surmounted by a shaped dome similarly decorated, and an acanthus leaf finial, the cylindrical ferrule with double coiled rosettes, flanked by grotesque masks, on a pierced, rectangular plinth, and a fine-toothed bit, late 17th Century
5¾in. (14.6cm.) high
出版
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
C. Prade, Musée Bricard, Musée de la Serrure, Paris, 1986, p. 11
Paris, Musée Bricard, Deux Siècles d'Histoire de la Serrure, pp. 18-19

拍品專文

The masterpiece lock and key was the work presented by the journeyman locksmith as proof that he was worthy of being accepted into the guild as a full master. These pieces, created in whatever free time the artisan could spare, took as long as ten, or even twenty, years to create (Deux Siècles, op.cit.).
A very similar key was sold at Sotheby's, 8 December 1988, lot 581.