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Lot Essay
Turquerie became in France a fashionable phenomenon following the Franco-Ottoman alliance in 1715. The movement infiltrated all areas from paintings to fabrics fueled by an appetite for exoticism and the growing availability of goods which served as models for artists and craftsmen. Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737) was hugely instrumental in providing visual evidence of the Ottoman lifestyle. Vanmour came to Istanbul in 1699 in the suite of the French ambassador the Marquis Charles de Ferriol, where he remained for almost four decades until his death in 1737, producing hundreds of images ranging from city views, parades, and ambassador’s audiences to portraits of Ottoman statesmen and ordinary people. In 1707, Ferriol commissioned one hundred oil paintings of the local people. His images were engraved and published in Paris in the Recueil de cent estampes représentant différentes nations du Levant (1712–13). These proved to be an invaluable source of inspiration for French artists. Thus, the scene featured on the cover is loosely inspired by a drawing of François Boucher ‘the Pasha in His Harem’ dated circa 1735-1739 now in the Albertina Museum in Vienna (12152).
Works by François Boucher (1703–1770), who held the prestigious title of first painter to the king, served themselves as a highly popular source of inspiration for artists as prints of his work were widely circulated and provided artists with compositions that could be faithfully reproduced or adapted. Ducrollay had access to such printed materials which he used to create this box. One of the most renowned Parisian makers of snuffboxes in the 18th century, Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787) was goldsmith-jeweler to the Crown and the Court, supplier to the Menus Plaisirs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as a highly distinguished clientele including Madame de Pompadour. Apprenticed in 1722 to his uncle Jean Drais, who sponsored him in 1734, Ducrollay’s workshop was a family enterprise that included his brother Jean-Charles (1712–66), along with the goldsmiths Louis Roucel (fl. 1763–1787) and Pierre-François Drais (fl. 1763–1788), Jean Drais’s son, then an apprentice. His work is often distinguished by his use of a variety of precious materials—such as enamel, porcelain, ivory miniatures, lacquer, and hardstones—which he combined within gold mountings. This taste for elaborately mounted pieces undoubtedly stems from his training under his sponsor Jean Drais, who specialized in such works, particularly miniature boxes. His boxes are generally considered to have achieved the highest level of design and craftsmanship. In this instance, he not only uses a fashionable theme but also integrates it into a three dimensional rococo setting reminiscent of the design of Juste-Auréle Meissonnier for dramatic effect (see P. Fuhring, Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: un génie du rococo, 1695-1750, Turin, London, Germani, 1999, vol. II, pp. 307).
Works by François Boucher (1703–1770), who held the prestigious title of first painter to the king, served themselves as a highly popular source of inspiration for artists as prints of his work were widely circulated and provided artists with compositions that could be faithfully reproduced or adapted. Ducrollay had access to such printed materials which he used to create this box. One of the most renowned Parisian makers of snuffboxes in the 18th century, Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787) was goldsmith-jeweler to the Crown and the Court, supplier to the Menus Plaisirs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as a highly distinguished clientele including Madame de Pompadour. Apprenticed in 1722 to his uncle Jean Drais, who sponsored him in 1734, Ducrollay’s workshop was a family enterprise that included his brother Jean-Charles (1712–66), along with the goldsmiths Louis Roucel (fl. 1763–1787) and Pierre-François Drais (fl. 1763–1788), Jean Drais’s son, then an apprentice. His work is often distinguished by his use of a variety of precious materials—such as enamel, porcelain, ivory miniatures, lacquer, and hardstones—which he combined within gold mountings. This taste for elaborately mounted pieces undoubtedly stems from his training under his sponsor Jean Drais, who specialized in such works, particularly miniature boxes. His boxes are generally considered to have achieved the highest level of design and craftsmanship. In this instance, he not only uses a fashionable theme but also integrates it into a three dimensional rococo setting reminiscent of the design of Juste-Auréle Meissonnier for dramatic effect (see P. Fuhring, Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: un génie du rococo, 1695-1750, Turin, London, Germani, 1999, vol. II, pp. 307).