BY PIERRE-FRANÇOIS DELAFONS (FL. 1732-1759), MARKED, PARIS, 1749/1750, WITH THE CHARGE MARK OF ANTOINE LESCHAUDEL AND THE DISCHARGE MARK OF JULIEN BERTHE, LATER STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD

Details

A LOUIS XV ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
by Pierre-François Delafons (fl. 1732-1759), marked, Paris, 1749/1750, with the charge mark of Antoine Leschaudel and the discharge mark of Julien Berthe, later struck with two Parisian post-1838 warranty marks for gold
Rectangular box, the four sides, base and slightly convex cover engraved with a pattern of quatrefoils within open rectangles on a frosted ground and decorated with opaque multi-colour and translucent green enamel flowers en relief, slightly raised incorporated thumbpiece
3 1/8 in. (80 mm.) wide

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Hôtel des Chevau-Légers, Versailles, 13 December 1992, lot 28 (illustrated in colour on catalogue front cover, erroneously as by Pierre Drais 1745).
With Sapjo, Monte-Carlo, 1999, acquired by
Dr Anton C. R. Dreesmann (inventory no. F-235).

Literature

S. Humair, 'Tabatières du XVIII^. les plus prisées', La Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot, no. 4, 28 January 2000 (erroneously as by Pierre Drais), illustrated p. 66.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Works by this celebrated goldsmith are rare; snuff-boxes by his hand can be seen in the Louvre, in the Hermitage, in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Snuff-boxes decorated with enamelled flowers en relief were fashionable in the late 1740s; similar works by Jean Moynat and Jean Ducrolly, dated 1747 and 1750, are recorded.

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