A gold and enamel snuff box, Jean Louis Bouillerot, Paris, 1775

VAT applies to hammer price and buyer's premium

Lot Closed

November 15, 01:08 PM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 CHF

Lot Details

Description

A gold and enamel snuff box, Jean Louis Bouillerot, Paris, 1775

oval, the lid later set with an enamel plaque of a flower girl, on an opaque white enamel ground framed by a translucent green enamel leaf border on a matted ground, the sides and base similarly decorated with additional rosettes in green enamel and gold to the centre, the sides with dividers decorated with foliage, the base only with maker's mark, charge and discharge mark of Fouache, Paris date letter M for 1775, the left rim numbered: 361, substantial losses to enamel

6.7 cm., 2⅝in. wide

Clare Le Corbeiller, European and American Snuff Boxes 1730-1830, London, 1966, no. 169;
Ulrich Pietsch, Preziosen einer süddeutschen Kunstsammlung, Hirmer, Munich, 2001, p. 134

In 1737, Charles-Alexandre Bouillerot was born into a Parisian family with a long tradition in gold box making, the oldest member being the respected bijoutier Nicolas Bouillerot (active 1720-1754). In 1769, Charles-Alexandre became master entering his maker's mark, a ‘fleur de lys couronnée, les deux grains, CAB, une mitre’ (Henry Nocq, Le poinçon de Paris, Paris, 1968, vol. I, p. 164), sponsored by his father. He is listed at rue du Haut Moulin until 1785, followed by rue de la Harpe from 1786-88, and subsequently at quai Pelletier until 1791. Today, gold boxes by Charles-Alexandre Bouillerot can be found in important museum collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 1975.1.1543), or the Musée du Louvre.