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Lot Essay
Charles Wagner (1799-1841), silversmith born in Berlin, became a leader in the revival of medieval and renaissance enameling techniques in the Louis-Philippe period in France. In 1829 he obtained a French patent for his technique of inlaying niello, a dark grey metal alloy used to great effect in the present casket. In 1832 he formed a partnership with Augustin-Médard Mention (1785-1849), a lapidary, and their firm, Mention et Wagner, was located at 1 rue du Mail until its dissolution in 1843.
Anne Dion-Tenenbaum, curator at the Musée du Louvre, and a scholar of enamellers of this period, describes Wagner's role as a pioneer in niello and enamel (for which he earned a second patent in 1837) in her study "La renaissance de l'email sous la monarchie de Juillet," Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des chartes, vol.163, 2005, pp.145-164. She notes two pieces that Mention et Wagner exhibited at the Paris fair of 1834, l'exposition des produits de l'industrie: a cup and a jewel casket described as "coffret à bijoux en argent niellé, d'après des modeles de Triqueti" (op. cit., p. 149). Like Charles Wagner, sculptor Henri de Triqueti (1803-1874) rejected the prevailing taste for neo-classical styles, preferring medieval and early renaissance design sources. Further research could establish that the present casket, marked for the period from 1832 to 1838, and bearing the patent mark of the makers, may indeed be the example exhibited at the 1834 Paris fair.
A jewel casket by Wagner's successor, Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi, was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 21 October 2009, lot 44.
Anne Dion-Tenenbaum, curator at the Musée du Louvre, and a scholar of enamellers of this period, describes Wagner's role as a pioneer in niello and enamel (for which he earned a second patent in 1837) in her study "La renaissance de l'email sous la monarchie de Juillet," Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des chartes, vol.163, 2005, pp.145-164. She notes two pieces that Mention et Wagner exhibited at the Paris fair of 1834, l'exposition des produits de l'industrie: a cup and a jewel casket described as "coffret à bijoux en argent niellé, d'après des modeles de Triqueti" (op. cit., p. 149). Like Charles Wagner, sculptor Henri de Triqueti (1803-1874) rejected the prevailing taste for neo-classical styles, preferring medieval and early renaissance design sources. Further research could establish that the present casket, marked for the period from 1832 to 1838, and bearing the patent mark of the makers, may indeed be the example exhibited at the 1834 Paris fair.
A jewel casket by Wagner's successor, Frédéric-Jules Rudolphi, was sold at Sotheby's, New York, 21 October 2009, lot 44.