Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume V : L’Écrin
Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume V : L’Écrin
A varicoloured gold snuff-box, Jean-Baptiste Lizon, Paris, 1760-1761
Auction Closed
October 14, 05:38 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
A varicoloured gold snuff-box, Jean-Baptiste Lizon, Paris, 1760-1761
oval, the lid chased with a young lady holding a rake and a watering can, a basket of flowers and a sheaf of wheat to her side, in front of a lime gold landscape and a tree trunk, on engraved sun-ray ground, in a frame of scrolls and further wavy border, the sides within similar borders and chased with a gardener and his wheelbarrow and trophies of gardening and harvest, the underside decorated with a dog seated next to an opulent flower basket and a gardening trophy, maker's mark, charge and discharge marks of Eloi Brichard (1756-1762), Paris date letter V for 1760, later struck with two French post-1838 restricted warranty marks for gold;
length 2⅝ in.; 6,7 cm.
weight 110g
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Tabatière en or de plusieurs couleurs par Jean-Baptiste Lizon, Paris, 1760-1761
le couvercle ciselé d'une jeune femme tenant un râteau et un arrosoir, les côtés ornés d'un jardinier et sa brouette, le dessous décoré d'un chien assis et de fleurs, poinçon d'orfèvre, de charge et de décharge d'Eloi Brichard, lettre-date de Paris pour 1760
weight: 114 g
length 2⅝ in.; 6,7 cm.
weight 110g
Sotheby's New York, 20 October 2009, lot 129;
Christie's London, 25-26 November 2014, lot 224.
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Sotheby's New York, 20 octobre 2009, lot 129;
Christie's Londres, 25-26 novembre 2014, lot 224.
Mystery and scandal surround the 18th century records of Jean-Baptiste Lizon. According to Arminjon (Dictionnaire des poinçons …, 1991, no. 01612), this mark was entered by him for la bijouterie ; le gros et le petit bijou from 17 rue de Harlay in 1798 and he is recorded in the various almanacs at this address until at least 1811.
According to Nocq (Le poinçon de Paris, reprint 1986), however, Jean-Baptiste Lizon is first recorded in July 1747, working in the atelier of Jean Gaillard. Here he committed such a severe breach of the Goldsmiths’ corporation regulations, that Gaillard, as responsible for anyone working under his mark, was immediately arrested, given a large fine and stripped of his maitrise, which was not restored for three years. Furthermore, the brothers Jean and Nicolas Lizon, were sentenced by default to branding and five years in the galleys.
Nevertheless, Jean-Baptiste Lizon re-appears in April 1757 having obtained letters patent from the corporation’s council and the following month executes his masterpiece, a cagework snuff box, in front of Germain Chayé and Pierre Bouillerot. It was approved and Lizon became master, working from 1759 in the cour Lamoignon, aux armes de Noailles, selling le bijou d’or. While at this address he lost two wives, the first by death in 1764 and the second through separation in 1777. From 1781 until 1793 he is recorded in the rue de Harlay. Nocq notes that another Lizon, unfortunately without a first name, is listed in the records for 1792 and 1793. Nocq then asks the pertinent question which, if either, is the Jean-Baptiste Lizon who appears or re-appears in the rue de Harlay after the revolution. It is not unknow for a goldsmith to have such a lengthy career but it is also not unknown for two people of the same name, often father and son, to pursue the same career in the same street. If it was the same man, how lucky he must have felt to have overcome his youthful indiscretion and to have survived so long.