Design
ca.1755 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Design for the top and long side of a rectangular diamond-set enamelled-gold snuffbox possibly by Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787) drawn about 1755 possibly for an elite client from the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, at Versailles, Paris. The designs are 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). 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.
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 and wash on 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 | Design for the top and long side of a rectangular diamond-set enamelled-gold snuffbox. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Purchased with the assistance of Wartski Limited |
Production | The side cartouches (and those on (52) and (360) are close to those on boxes by Ducrollay in the Wallace Collection and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, dated 1754-5 and 1759-60 respectively (Snowman 1990, pls. 311, 361). These drawings and (55 and 119) were evidently once made up into three-dimensional models of boxes, probably to show to customers. The drawings catalogued here 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 the top and long side of a rectangular diamond-set enamelled-gold snuffbox possibly by Jean Ducrollay (1710-1787) drawn about 1755 possibly for an elite client from the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, at Versailles, Paris. The designs are 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). 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.897:116-1988 |
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Record created | May 31, 2006 |
Record URL |
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