A parcel-gilt silver and enamel vide-poche in Japonisme taste, Frédéric Boucheron, Paris, circa 1867

designed by Paul Legrand, in the form of a kneeling karako on a lobed enamelled base, supporting an oval parcel-gilt silver bowl with Noh mask and pond subject with carp and flowering blossoms, the underside silver-gilt and engraved: F^ic. Boucheron / Paris, maker's mark presumably of Crosville & Glachant, post-1838 boar's head garantie

overall excellent condition
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The firm of Boucheron today most famous for its jewellery but a Parisian jeweller in the 19th century, such as Cartier, Falize or Frédéric Boucheron (1830-1902), would also use his talents to create delightful objects of vertu such as this vide-poche. 

 Paul Legrand (1840-1910) joined the firm permanently in 1871 as its chief designer and head of the workshop until he retired in 1892. Frédéric Boucheron said of him during the 1878 Paris Exposition:
 ‘He is a born colourist and loves inventiveness – he has always worked at achieving effects of light, different patinas or gilding in his creations, [through] the use of openwork, enamelling and rock crystal; and they have always conferred considerable success on my firm... All my goldsmith's work in the Japanese style is by him’ (Gilles Néret, Boucheron: Four Generations of a World-Renowned Jeweler, 1989, p. 47).

Boucheron presented exquisite oeuvres japonisantes as early as 1867 at the Paris Universal Exhibition, including a version of this vide-poche which accompanied an elaborate tobacco set. The only difference is that the boy is only on one knee rather than two as in the present example. The Boucheron collection owns a silver-gilt version of that earlier model illustrated in Japonisme: From Falize to Fabergé, the Goldsmith and Japan, Wartski, London, exh. cat., 2011, p. 29, no. 47.  

The key to Boucheron's success was naturally the high quality of the objects presented, many outsourced to the Paris manufacturing goldsmith's firm of Crossville & Glachant who entered a maker's mark in 1861 from 11 place Dauphine. The mark is identical to the mark on the present example, showing a tassel hanging from a hook, with the addition of an ampersand above, lacking here and in other examples of their work (Arminjon/Beaupuis/Bilimoff, Dictionnaire des poinçons de fabricants d’ouvrages d’or et d’argent, 1798-1838, Paris, 1991, no. 0921). The firm closed in May 1867 leading one to suppose that the present piece was either made for or at the time of the Universal Exhibition perhaps as an alternative to the boy on one knee. 

A silver and enamel smoking compendium, also in Japonisant taste and designed by Paul Legrand, with maker's mark of Crosville & Glachant, was sold, Sotheby's New York, 5 April 2006, lot 62.