- Design
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Design
- Place of origin:
Paris (made)
- Date:
ca.1740-1745 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown
- Materials and Techniques:
Engraving on paper
- Credit Line:
Purchased with the assistance of Wartski Limited
- Museum number:
E.897:87-1988
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E, case CUP, shelf 5, box A
Printed impression (pull) from the top of a gold box. The top of the engraved gold box was inked and a piece of dampened paper pressed into it thus the top of the box worked like a printing plate from which a print was produced. This print was made by an anonymous designer in the early 1740s and it 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 (ornamental chains, pins, or clasps usually worn at a woman's waist, to which trinkets, keys, purses, or other articles are attached).
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.
