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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case SB5, Shelf SH6

Design

ca.1770-1790 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These designs are for seals, which are devices used to produce official stamps often on documents as a symbol of authority. The carved surface of the seal is dipped into hot sealing wax and pressed onto the paper and allowed to dry leaving an embossed, stamped lump of sealing wax. These designs are by an anonymous designer about 1770-1790 possibly for an elite client from the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, or that of Louis XVI, King of France from 1774 until 1791, at Versailles, Paris.

These drawings are from an album of designs, which date from about 1735-1820, and includes snuffboxes, scent holders, watches and watch cases, spoons, fans and fan mounts, small swords, and chatelaines (ornamental chains, pins, or clasps usually worn at a woman's waist, to which trinkets, keys, purses, or other articles are attached). The album is bound in red morocco and the boards are stamped in gilt with the arms, now partly erased, of a member of the Bourbon family, probably Louis-Henri, Prince of Condé (1692-1740).

There is a close relationship between the contents of the album and known work by three Parisian goldsmiths, Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787), Pierre- François Drais (active 1761-1788), and Charles Ouizille (1744-1830) whose names appear on the first page of the album. This suggests that all the designs emanate from their workshops. Drais worked for the Court at Versailles as jeweller to both King Louis XV and Louis XVI. Ouizille worked in this capacity for Louis XVI. Most of the material dates from the period 1755-90.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink on blue paper
Brief description
Design form album of designs by Ouizille, French, eighteenth century.
NOT TO BE ISSUED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE HEAD OF DESIGNS
Physical description
Designs for seals.
Dimensions
  • Height: 5.2cm
  • Width: 6.1cm
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of Wartski Limited
Subject depicted
Summary
These designs are for seals, which are devices used to produce official stamps often on documents as a symbol of authority. The carved surface of the seal is dipped into hot sealing wax and pressed onto the paper and allowed to dry leaving an embossed, stamped lump of sealing wax. These designs are by an anonymous designer about 1770-1790 possibly for an elite client from the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, or that of Louis XVI, King of France from 1774 until 1791, at Versailles, Paris.

These drawings are from an album of designs, which date from about 1735-1820, and includes snuffboxes, scent holders, watches and watch cases, spoons, fans and fan mounts, small swords, and chatelaines (ornamental chains, pins, or clasps usually worn at a woman's waist, to which trinkets, keys, purses, or other articles are attached). The album is bound in red morocco and the boards are stamped in gilt with the arms, now partly erased, of a member of the Bourbon family, probably Louis-Henri, Prince of Condé (1692-1740).

There is a close relationship between the contents of the album and known work by three Parisian goldsmiths, Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787), Pierre- François Drais (active 1761-1788), and Charles Ouizille (1744-1830) whose names appear on the first page of the album. This suggests that all the designs emanate from their workshops. Drais worked for the Court at Versailles as jeweller to both King Louis XV and Louis XVI. Ouizille worked in this capacity for Louis XVI. Most of the material dates from the period 1755-90.
Bibliographic reference
Heike Zech, 'Designs for Gold Boxes in the Album of the Workshop of Jean Ducrollay and his Successors', in Going for Gold: craftsmanship and collecting of gold boxes, ed. Tessa Murdoch and Heike Zech (Sussex academic press, 2014).
Collection
Accession number
E.897:18-1988

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Record createdMay 31, 2006
Record URL
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