Jules-Joseph-Henri Brianchon (d. 1880) worked in partnership with his brother-in-law, a M. Gillet, from several Paris addresses between 1855 and 1880. In 1857 he patented couleurs nacrées ('pearly colours') based on bismuth-gold, uranium and palladium salts. This lustrous glaze became the firm's speciality, applied to many wares in a variety of style. Indeed, a critic at the international exhibition, London, 1862, in which this Conch Shell was shown, felt their use of the technique was neither discriminating nor novel. However, the jury's Report thought the wares of 'extreme brilliancy and the delicacy of the tints'..would counter any 'objection that might arise on the charge of meretricious glitter'. Perhaps this shell is one of the more appropriate and popular applications of Brianchon's patent.