A rare Louis XV silver inkstand

MAKER'S MARK OF JEAN BELLON, MONTPELLIER, 1770-1771

Details

A rare Louis XV silver inkstand
Maker's mark of Jean Bellon, Montpellier, 1770-1771
The shaped oblong stand with ovolo border, on four scroll and foliage feet, fitted with three vase-shaped pots, the central one on rim foot, the lower part of the body chased with foliage, the upper part with paterae, drapery on matting and flutes, with detachable table-bell engraved with foliage bands and with baluster handle above, the two other pots of similar form chased with a band of running scrolls, one enclosing detachable ink-container with flat cover with openwork handle, the other, similar, enclosing sand-container engraved with initial B, the pierced fixed cover with similar handle, the stand engraved beneath with weight '6 m 3 on 6 g', the stand stamped with charge, jurisdiction and twice with maker's mark, the three pots and bell with decharge mark, the sand-container with illegible mark, the ink-container unmarked
Stand 34.5 cm. (13.3/4 in.) long
1,640 gr. (52 oz.)

Provenance

The initial B is that of Boussairolles, for Jacques-Joseph de Boussairolles, seigneur de la Mogère, la Mourre, le Bourg and other places. Born on 20 January 1741, he married on 12 January 1762 Marie Jeanne Gilette de Flaugergues. During the Empire, he became President of the Imperial Court in Montpellier and received the title of Baron in 1814. Since then, this écritoire has been recorded in numerous 19th century family inventories.
The present owner is a direct descendant of Jacques-Joseph de Boussairolles.

Literature

An article on this inkstand will shortly be published in L'Estampille-L'Objet d'Art.

Exhibited

Musée Languedocien, Montpellier, in the exhibition Orfèvrerie civile de Montpellier et du Languedoc, 1996, p. 84, cat. no. 67.

Lot Essay

Extant complete 18th century French inkstands are extremely rare. Examples in museums include the superb one made by Thomas Germain in 1746 for the Portuguese Cardinal da Cunha which is now part of the collection of the Louvre Museum, Paris. They rarely appear on the market. One, incomplete, with maker's mark of François Joubert, Paris, 1769 was sold in Paris on 16 June, 1986 by Ader, Picard, Tajan. The David-Weill Collection included two inkstands, also incomplete, one by Aymé Joubert, Paris, 1704, the other by Jacques Malquis le Quin, Paris, 1749 (Ader, Picard and Ader, Palais Galliera, Paris, pt. I, 4 June, 1971, lot 31 and pt. II, 24 November, 1971, lot 59 respectively).
The Montpellier exhibition (cat. op. cit. no. 58) included a second inkstand, by Pierre Belleville on wood base, but it was yet again incomplete.

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