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Lot Essay
Antoine Boullier was one of the leading silversmiths of his time. Like François-Thomas Germain, Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers, Louis Lenhendrick and Robert Joseph Auguste he was held in high esteem by his contemporaries and was commissioned by Catherine the Great to execute part of a large dinner-service, a tureen from which is on view at the Hermitage. He also executed, with Robert-Joseph Auguste, part of the famous dinner-service for Count Creutz, now part of the Swedish Royal Collection.
The two earliest literature references cited state that this toilet service was made for a member of the Potocki family, but more recent research shows that it was executed for Vladimir Borosovitch, General Prince Galitzin, council of State, and his wife Natalya Petrovna, daughter of Count Tchernychev, ambassador to the Court of St. James's. They were married in 1766. Their daughter, Sophia, married General Count Stroganov. Five pieces of this toilet-service bear the contemporary arms accole of Galitzin and Tchernychev, while the mirror is surmounted by the arms of Stroganov, a nineteenth-century addition.
In both the May, 1982 Christie's catalogue and The Glory of the Goldsmith it is noted that the two large rectangular caskets, present in the service at least until Le Poinon de Paris in 1922-1930, had since gone astray. These have now been reunited with the service to form part of the present lot.
The two earliest literature references cited state that this toilet service was made for a member of the Potocki family, but more recent research shows that it was executed for Vladimir Borosovitch, General Prince Galitzin, council of State, and his wife Natalya Petrovna, daughter of Count Tchernychev, ambassador to the Court of St. James's. They were married in 1766. Their daughter, Sophia, married General Count Stroganov. Five pieces of this toilet-service bear the contemporary arms accole of Galitzin and Tchernychev, while the mirror is surmounted by the arms of Stroganov, a nineteenth-century addition.
In both the May, 1982 Christie's catalogue and The Glory of the Goldsmith it is noted that the two large rectangular caskets, present in the service at least until Le Poinon de Paris in 1922-1930, had since gone astray. These have now been reunited with the service to form part of the present lot.