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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.1755 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Design for an enamelled and stone-set chatelaine (ornamental chains, pins, or clasps usually worn at a woman's waist, to which trinkets, keys, purses, or other articles are attached) possibly by the goldsmith Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787), in about 1755, possibly for an elite client from the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, at Versailles, Paris.

This design is from an album of designs which date from about 1735-1820 and includes those for snuffboxes, scent holders, watches and watch cases, spoons, fans and fan mounts, small swords, and chatelaines.

There is a close relationship between the contents of the album and known work by three Parisian goldsmiths, Ducrollay, 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 and watercolour on paper
Brief description
Design from album of designs by Ouizille, French, eighteenth century.
NOT TO BE ISSUED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE HEAD OF DESIGNS
Physical description
Design for an enamelled and stone-set chatelaine.
Dimensions
  • Height: 12cm
  • Width: 5cm
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of Wartski Limited
Production
The drawings catalogued under the name of Ducrollay are all apparently by the same hand. They are tentatively given to Ducrollay on the basis that they show pieces known to have been by him.
Subject depicted
Summary
Design for an enamelled and stone-set chatelaine (ornamental chains, pins, or clasps usually worn at a woman's waist, to which trinkets, keys, purses, or other articles are attached) possibly by the goldsmith Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787), in about 1755, possibly for an elite client from the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, at Versailles, Paris.

This design is from an album of designs which date from about 1735-1820 and includes those for snuffboxes, scent holders, watches and watch cases, spoons, fans and fan mounts, small swords, and chatelaines.

There is a close relationship between the contents of the album and known work by three Parisian goldsmiths, Ducrollay, 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.897:72-1988

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Record createdMay 31, 2006
Record URL
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