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Lot Essay
Jacob Heinrich Alberti was born in Stahlberg, near Meisenheim in the Palatinate. He trained for seven or eight years in the workshop of Jean Louis Imlin before petitioning the Strasbourg guild council (Conseil de l'Échasse) for citizenship on 13 March 1764. Owing to his outstanding reputation and skills, he was granted special dispensation on 15 May to present his master's piece without completing the customary probationary period. Alberti was admitted to Strasbourg's bourgeoisie in August 1764 and was received as a master goldsmith two months later. In October 1765 he married Catherine Salomé Emmerich, daughter of a local broker.
Alberti quickly established himself as one of Strasbourg's most successful goldsmiths. His workshop operated beyond the limits permitted by guild regulations, employing six journeymen, an apprentice, and several assistants, despite the authorised complement of only three journeymen and one apprentice in addition to the master. During a guild inspection in April 1769, wardens also noted that he continued to trade under the name of his predecessor, Jean Louis Imlin. Alberti appealed to the Council of Fifteen, which supervised the city's guilds, and on 16 December 1769 the council upheld the validity of the partnership arrangements between the associated masters, allowing them to continue operating under the provisions of the 1696 regulations. However, Alberti was expressly forbidden from continuing to use Imlin's name in trade.
In 1783 Alberti entered into partnership with the bachelor goldsmith Jean Henri (Johann Heinrich) Ehrmann, and the firm traded as Alberti & Ehrmann until its dissolution on 29 March 1790. Jacob Heinrich Alberti died on 28 October 1795 at his residence in the Rue des Orfèvres, Strasbourg.
Another dessert service by Alberti dating 1783 was sold in the Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares Collection sale, Paris, 23 September 2026, lot 19.
Alberti quickly established himself as one of Strasbourg's most successful goldsmiths. His workshop operated beyond the limits permitted by guild regulations, employing six journeymen, an apprentice, and several assistants, despite the authorised complement of only three journeymen and one apprentice in addition to the master. During a guild inspection in April 1769, wardens also noted that he continued to trade under the name of his predecessor, Jean Louis Imlin. Alberti appealed to the Council of Fifteen, which supervised the city's guilds, and on 16 December 1769 the council upheld the validity of the partnership arrangements between the associated masters, allowing them to continue operating under the provisions of the 1696 regulations. However, Alberti was expressly forbidden from continuing to use Imlin's name in trade.
In 1783 Alberti entered into partnership with the bachelor goldsmith Jean Henri (Johann Heinrich) Ehrmann, and the firm traded as Alberti & Ehrmann until its dissolution on 29 March 1790. Jacob Heinrich Alberti died on 28 October 1795 at his residence in the Rue des Orfèvres, Strasbourg.
Another dessert service by Alberti dating 1783 was sold in the Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares Collection sale, Paris, 23 September 2026, lot 19.