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Lot Essay
The present box is one of the earliest lacquer-mounted objects made by Jean Ducrollay and belongs to a small group of about fifteen lacquer-mounted works made between 1749 and 1760 that also includes the carnet-de-bal presented under Lot 285.
The fashion for gold-mounted Japanese lacquer boxes developed in Paris in the mid-18th century as part of the European fascination with Japanese luxury goods. The Marchand-Mercier Lazare-Duvaux records the new fashion in his Livre-Journal noting in 1753 that a "tabatière de lacq à deux tabacs en or émaillé" was sold to Mme de Pompadour (Bastien, 2013, p. 35).
Gold box makers would therefore acquire from these Marchands-Merciers small fragments, offcuts and even damaged or outdated pieces, particularly suited to the small surfaces of snuff-boxes. Ducrollay appears to have been one of the first to incorporate lacquer into snuff-boxes and carnets to respond to the growing popularity of lacquer. The earliest example dating from 1749-50 was set with black lacquer panels decorated with pagodas and conifers within enamelled gold mounts sold from the collection of the Comtesse de Ribes, Sotheby’s, Paris, 11 December 2019, lot 55. The latest recorded appears to be the carnet de bal dated 1760 offered as lot 285 in the Blaquier-Arrieta Collection Part II.
Thus, his name appears regularly in the Livre-journal of Lazare Duvaux in connection with purchases of Japanese lacquer panels to be mounted à cage in snuff-boxes (Bastien, 2013, p. 34), the earliest mention dating from December 1750 for a 'dessus de böete d'ancien lacq à oiseaux, 36 L.'. It is worth noting that in December 1754, Lazare Duvaux paid Ducrollay 216 livres for 'un ensemble de böetes de lacq aventurine doublées de rouge' (op. cit. p. 226) which might be referring to boxes comparable to the present lot.
For a biography of Jean Ducrollay, see lot 7.
The fashion for gold-mounted Japanese lacquer boxes developed in Paris in the mid-18th century as part of the European fascination with Japanese luxury goods. The Marchand-Mercier Lazare-Duvaux records the new fashion in his Livre-Journal noting in 1753 that a "tabatière de lacq à deux tabacs en or émaillé" was sold to Mme de Pompadour (Bastien, 2013, p. 35).
Gold box makers would therefore acquire from these Marchands-Merciers small fragments, offcuts and even damaged or outdated pieces, particularly suited to the small surfaces of snuff-boxes. Ducrollay appears to have been one of the first to incorporate lacquer into snuff-boxes and carnets to respond to the growing popularity of lacquer. The earliest example dating from 1749-50 was set with black lacquer panels decorated with pagodas and conifers within enamelled gold mounts sold from the collection of the Comtesse de Ribes, Sotheby’s, Paris, 11 December 2019, lot 55. The latest recorded appears to be the carnet de bal dated 1760 offered as lot 285 in the Blaquier-Arrieta Collection Part II.
Thus, his name appears regularly in the Livre-journal of Lazare Duvaux in connection with purchases of Japanese lacquer panels to be mounted à cage in snuff-boxes (Bastien, 2013, p. 34), the earliest mention dating from December 1750 for a 'dessus de böete d'ancien lacq à oiseaux, 36 L.'. It is worth noting that in December 1754, Lazare Duvaux paid Ducrollay 216 livres for 'un ensemble de böetes de lacq aventurine doublées de rouge' (op. cit. p. 226) which might be referring to boxes comparable to the present lot.
For a biography of Jean Ducrollay, see lot 7.