BY JOSEPH-ETIENNE BLERZY (FL. 1768 - AFTER 1806), MARKED, PARIS, 1786/1787, WITH THE SECOND CHARGE AND DISCHARGE MARKS OF HENRY CLAVEL 1782-1789, THE FLANGE STRUCK WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 793

Details

A LOUIS XVI ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
by Joseph-Etienne Blerzy (fl. 1768 - after 1806), marked, Paris, 1786/1787, with the second charge and discharge marks of Henry Clavel 1782-1789, the flange struck with inventory number 793
Oblong box (boîte en baignoire, 'bathtub box'), the panels on cover, base and sides enamelled on an engine-turned wavy reeded moiré ground in translucent royal blue encrusted with scrolling foliage and beaded swags in gold and green paillons, within white enamel borders, the matted gold borders enamelled in translucent green with foliate scrolls, in translucent red with pellets and in opaque white with berries and in translucent red surrounded by opaque white with eye motifs
3 11/16 in. (94 mm.) wide

Provenance

René Fribourg, New York.
(+) The Fribourg Foundation; sale 'The René Fribourg Collection', part IV sold Sotheby's, London, 14 October 1963, lot 311 (£1,400 to Wartski).
With Wartski's, London.
The Ortiz-Patiño Collection of Highly Important French Gold Boxes, part I sold Christie's, London, 27 June 1973, lot 3 (4,200gns.).

Literature

A. K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Paris, London, 1974, p. 125, no. 57, illustrated in colour p. 124.
A. K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, Woodbridge, 1990, p. 235 colour plates 482-483.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium

Further details

(SEE ALSO CATALOGUE FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION)

Lot Essay

For other boxes by Blerzy, see lots 80 and 96.
For another box of this shape typical for the late Louis XVI period, see lot 31.

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