bonbonnière ronde en or et pierres précieuses sertie d'un camée de Marie de Médicis en agate, Frédéric Boucheron, Paris, vers 1881

probablement exécutée par Alfred Menu, pour Boucheron, le camée représentant Marie de Médicis sculpté et signé par Georges Bissinger dans un entourage de diamants taillés en rose et d'émeraudes taillées en triangle, les bordures et la bâte repercées, le dessous gravé F^{ic Boucheron/ Paris, numéroté : 163}



circular, the lid inset with a cameo profile of Marie de Médecis, signed G. Bissinger, wearing a deep ruff, within a border of dragon's tooth emeralds and rose diamonds, the borders and sides pierced with flat gold arabesques, the base engraved: F^{ic Boucheron / Paris, numbered: 163}

Les livres de stock de la maison Boucheron listent en 1881 une bonbonnière or rouge ornée d'un camée Elisabeth, entourage émeraudes (auteur Menu pour Boucheron), monture en or repercé. Il est fort possible que le sujet du camée ait été confondu. (Nous remercions sincèrement Madame Claudine Sablier Paquet du Patrimoine Boucheron pour ces informations.)

Excellent condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Georges Bissinger is said to have been born in Hanau but worked as a gem-engraver in Paris during the second half of the 19^th century. He first came to prominence at the Paris 1867 International Exhibition winning a silver medal for his cameo carving, followed by gold at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. He specialised in working in the fashionable Renaissance taste showing a rock crystal cup carved with Neptune and Amphitrite as well as a series of 112 gems at the 1878 Exposition Universelle, a number copied from originals in the Cabinet des Médailles in Paris. Bissinger worked for many of the best jewellers of his day: another cameo of Marie de Médecis signed by Bissinger, mounted by Carlo Giuliano, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (accession number 165-1900). A signed cameo of Queen Elizabeth I, in an emerald and diamond pendant setting by Mrs Philip Newman for Brogden, was sold, Sotheby's Geneva, 11-13 November 1981, lot 933. That Bissinger worked for Boucheron is recorded by Oscar Massin who recalled that he produced many groundbreaking jewellery designs for the commercial trade in the years just before the 1867 exhibition, including: 'pour Boucheron, la premère aigrette plumes et brillants, des bijoux Louis XVI, avec ou sans camées, lesquels étaient gravés par l'excellente artiste Bissinger' (Henri Vever, La bijouterie française au XIXe siècle, Paris, 1906, vol.ii, pp.306/7).

Alfred Menu (born 1828) was a prolific bijoutier and excellent craftsman who had been apprenticed to Louis Benoist in 1840 before spending eight years with Marret & Jarry. In 1862 he opened his own business in the rue du Chaume working on his own account and for other jewellers - 'Boucheron l'employait constamment'  (Vever, op.cit., vol. iii, pp. 454/6).