CIRCA 1770-75

Details

A ROYAL LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED GILT-TOOLED LEATHER COFFRET
CIRCA 1770-75
Overall decorated with entwined foliage and fleur-de-lys borders, the slightly domed hinged lid centred by the French royal arms, the corners with fleur-de-lys and cypher ‘MJL’ surmounted by an eagle, the interior lined with blue moire, with side handles, the underside struck ‘AL’ with a rooster
11 ½ in. (29.5 cm.) high; 25 ¼ (65 cm.) wide; 16 ½ in. (42 cm.) deep

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
E. Thoinan, Les relieurs français (1500-1800), biographie critique et anecdotique précédée de l'histoire de la communauté des relieurs et doreurs de livres de la ville de Paris et d'une étude sur les styles de reliure, Paris, 1893, pp. 401-404.
P. Verlet, Recherches sur quelques coffres en usage à la cour de France, à propos de deux coffres du musée de Lisbonne, Lisbonne, 1971.

Brought to you by

Paul Gallois

pgallois@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2260

Lot Essay

This rare Royal leather coffret, struck with the cypher MJL surmounted by the Savoy eagle, was almost certainly delivered by the Menus Plaisirs for the use of Marie-Joséphine-Louise (1753-1810), princess of Savoy and Comtesse de Provence, wife of the future Louis XVIII.

It closely relates to coffers conceived by Pierre Vente (b. 1722, active until 1792) and supplied to Mesdames, Louis XV’s daughters. One of these caskets was subsequently in the collection of Baron Arthur de Rothschild and exhibited in ‘Louis XV, un moment de perfection de l’art Français’, Paris, 1974, cat. 551. An almost identical coffer was sold from the collection of the 5th Earl of Rosebery, Mentmore Towers, Buckinghamshire, Sotheby’s house sale, 1977, lot 109.

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