BY LOUIS-PHILLIPE DEMAY OR DE MAY (FL. 1758-1772), MARKED, PARIS, 1767/1768, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768, THE FLANGE ENGRAVED 'DEMAYS Á PARIS' AND STAMPED WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 542, LATER STRUCK WITH TWO FRENCH RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD 1838-1919

Details

A LOUIS XV VARI-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX
BY LOUIS-PHILLIPE DEMAY OR DE MAY (FL. 1758-1772), MARKED, PARIS, 1767/1768, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768, THE FLANGE ENGRAVED 'DEMAYS Á PARIS' AND STAMPED WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 542, LATER STRUCK WITH TWO FRENCH RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD 1838-1919
oval box, the cover, sides and base set with panels of moiré pattern engine-turning within polished gold frames, each centred with an oval vari-colour gold sablé plaque chased with gardening trophies and floral sprays, within slightly raised chased vari-colour gold foliate and ribbon borders
3¼ in. (81 mm.) wide
7 oz. (208 gr.)

Provenance

Sotheby's, Geneva, 6 May 1981, lot 68.
Sir A. Chester Beatty Collection; Sotheby's, London, 17 June 1963, lot 329.

Brought to you by

David McLachlan

dmclachlan@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2650

Lot Essay

Louis-Philippe Demay worked for the services of the Présents du Roi and of the Menus Plaisirs of King Louis XV. Among his clients was also the notorious Countess du Barry. According to Serge Grandjean, Les tabatières du musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981, p. 79, only eleven boxes by Demay are recorded, all dated between 1760 and 1769. These include the four snuff-boxes in the Louvre and the three boxes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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