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Design

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

Design for a watch or box top showing a sacrifice to Asclepius, who is the demigod of medicine and healing in Greek mythology. It was drawn about 1770 by an anonymous designer 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). It was designed for an elite client of the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, at Versailles, Paris.

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 a watch or box top showing a sacrifice to Aesculapius.
Dimensions
  • Height: 9.9cm
  • Width: 17cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'l'amour et l'amite'
    Translation
    love and friendship
  • 'offrende a esculape'
    Translation
    sacrifice to Aesculapius
  • 'un figure d'homme en place de celle de femme' (In another hand to the other inscriptions.)
    Translation
    a figure of a man instead of a woman
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of Wartski Limited
Subjects depicted
Summary
Design for a watch or box top showing a sacrifice to Asclepius, who is the demigod of medicine and healing in Greek mythology. It was drawn about 1770 by an anonymous designer 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). It was designed for an elite client of the Court of Louis XV, King of France, from 1715 to 1774, at Versailles, Paris.

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.897:255-1988

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Record createdJune 5, 2006
Record URL
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