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Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case SB5, Shelf SH6

Design

ca.1760-1780 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Impression (pull) from the top of a neoclassical gold box. The top of the engraved gold box was inked and a piece of paper pressed into it thus the top of the box worked like a printing plate from which a print was produced. This handcoloured print was made by an anonymous designer in about 1760-1780 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.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Engraving 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
Impression (pull) from the top of a neo-classical gold box showing the ruins of a classical building.
Dimensions
  • Height: 7.3cm
  • Width: 9cm
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of Wartski Limited
Subjects depicted
Summary
Impression (pull) from the top of a neoclassical gold box. The top of the engraved gold box was inked and a piece of paper pressed into it thus the top of the box worked like a printing plate from which a print was produced. This handcoloured print was made by an anonymous designer in about 1760-1780 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.
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.897:343-1988

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Record createdJune 5, 2006
Record URL
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