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拍品專文
Pierre LaBrosse (1665-1719) was born into a family of Protestant merchants in Angers, France in 1665. Brian Beet's extensive research into the family and other Huguenot families of Anjou is laid out in detail in his article "Huguenot Refugees from Anjou", The Silver Society Journal, vol. 10, p. 12-15. He discovered that Pierre's father Louis Labbé (b.1643) had been admitted to the Goldsmiths' Guild in 1663 after a four year apprenticeship which had ended in 1659. As was common at the time he added the name of his estate, LaBrosse, to his surname after its purchase sometime before 1680. Pierre in turn served a four year apprenticeship under Jacques Destriché.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which had allowed French Protestants to practice their religion free from persecution, precipitated the departure of the LaBrosse family from Angers. The records of the Église des Grecs in London for 1688 list the marriage of a Margueritte LaBrosse indicating that the family had arrived in London by that year. Pierre LaBrosse himself was married at the Église des Grecs in 1690. When he stood as godfather to the son of fellow Huguenot Abraham Thibaut in 1696 he is described as 'Marchand Orfèvre'. The surviving works by LaBrosse are small in number but of high quality and include a pair of chamber candlesticks, of circa 1709, made for the 7th Earl of Kinnoul, a pair of casters, a trencher salt and a silver-gilt scent flask with cast chinoiserie panels.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which had allowed French Protestants to practice their religion free from persecution, precipitated the departure of the LaBrosse family from Angers. The records of the Église des Grecs in London for 1688 list the marriage of a Margueritte LaBrosse indicating that the family had arrived in London by that year. Pierre LaBrosse himself was married at the Église des Grecs in 1690. When he stood as godfather to the son of fellow Huguenot Abraham Thibaut in 1696 he is described as 'Marchand Orfèvre'. The surviving works by LaBrosse are small in number but of high quality and include a pair of chamber candlesticks, of circa 1709, made for the 7th Earl of Kinnoul, a pair of casters, a trencher salt and a silver-gilt scent flask with cast chinoiserie panels.