日本鏤空黃金配琺瑯彩漆面鼻煙盒，Jean Ducrollay，巴黎，1749/1750年製

rectangular, the diagonally-reeded gold mounts decorated in painted enamels and two tones of translucent green enamel with flower sprigs, enclosing large panels of Japanese lacquer, on lid and base with fundame pavilions and pagodas picked out in red, the sides with sprouting conifers on a roiro ground, the interior gold-lined and wavy edged, maker's mark, charge and discharge marks of Antoine Leschaudel and Julien Berthe, Paris date letters, in associated fishskin case

Mrs Charles E. Dunlap, Sotheby's Monaco, 29 november 1975, lot 132

Associated literature:
Francis Watson, 'Beckford, Mme de Pompadour, the duc de Bouillon and the taste for Japanese lacquer in eighteenth century France', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 61, 1963, pp. 101-127;
Clare Le Corbeiller, 'East and West and the Gold Box', Apollo, September 1969, pp. 250-252;
Vincent Bastien, 'Jean Ducrollay et l'orfèvrerie à Paris au XVIIIe siècle', in ed. Stéphane Castellucio, Le commerce du luxe à Paris au XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris, 2009, pp. 133-149

the panels in good order, very few short hairline cracks on the front panel, some wear to the base, restoration to the green enamel leaves on the borders in many places, overall good impression
"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."

Both as a result of his family connections and as an innovatrive craftsman, Jean Ducrollay holds a pre-eminent position among Paris gold box makers of the mid eighteenth century. Apprenticed in 1722 to his uncle Jean Drais who acted as his sponsor when he became master in 1734 from the rue de Lamoignon, by 1748 he had moved to the place Dauphine where he and his younger brother Jean-Charles worked until 1761 when they sold the business to Jean-Marie Tiron de Nanteuil. Ducrollay was named orfèvre-joaillier to the Crown and to the Court supplying the Menus Plaisirs as well as a most distinguished clientèle which included Madame de Pompadour (for whom he produced a chased gold coffee-mill, 1756/7, now in the Louvre) and the duc d’Aumont (for whom he created the famous gold and enamel snuff box, 1744, decorated with peacock’s feathers, now in the Wallace Collection). For more complete details about Ducrollay’s life and business arrangements, see Vincent Bastien, ‘Les Ducrollay’, L’Objet d’Art, no. 415, Juillet-Août 2006, pp. 60-69. Although Ducrollay employed all the techniques and materials available to goldsmiths at that time in the creation of his gold boxes, from exquisitely simple engine-turning to hardstone, enamel, porcelain and jewels, his use of fashionable Japanese lacquer is well recorded. His name appears several times in the Livre-journal de Lazare Duvaux, Marchand Bijoutier ordinaire du Roy, 1748-1758, (ed. Jean Cordey, Paris, 1873) in connection with the purchase of Japanese lacquer panels, presumably for insertion into snuff boxes such as this or carnets or other small mounted objects. Another lacquer box of 1752/3 by Ducrollay with very similar flowery gold and enamel mounts further embellished with blue ribbons, is to be found in the Thurn and Taxis Collection (Lorenz Seelig, Golddosen des 18. Jahrhunderts aus dem Besitz der Fürsten von Thurn und Taxis, Munich, 2007, no. 2).