Live Auction 1162Centuries of Style, Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
A LOUIS XVI JEWELLED ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
Lot 294 PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION 

A LOUIS XVI JEWELLED ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX

BY PIERRE-FRANÇOIS DRAIS (FL. 1763-1788), MARKED, PARIS, 1778-1779, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF JEAN BAPTISTE FOUACHE 1774-1780

Closed27 November 2013

Price Realised

GBP 68,500

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A LOUIS XVI JEWELLED ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
BY PIERRE-FRANÇOIS DRAIS (FL. 1763-1788), MARKED, PARIS, 1778-1779, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF JEAN BAPTISTE FOUACHE 1774-1780
oval box, the cover, sides and base set with panels of opalescent enamel painted en camaïeu with winter branches on an oyster-pink ground, within chased gold frames, the cover centred with an oval grisaille miniature on a red hardstone ground depicting Silenus, the slightly raised borders chased with translucent green enamel foliage and set at intervals with seed pearls on a sablé ground, the side pilasters similarly decorated
2.7/8 in. (73 mm.) wide

Sotheby's, Geneva, 16 May 1991, lot 112.

Specialist note

Pierre-François Drais (1726-1788) was a pupil of one of his Ducrollay cousins, who was a Parisian master goldsmith. He struck his mark in 1763 and was soon employed by the service of the Menus Plaisirs du Roi. Thus he was commissioned for the famous gold box made for the marriage of the Comte d'Artois to Princess Marie-Thérèse of Savoy. As a result, Drais became bijoutier du Roi and had among his clients Madame du Barry and, later, King Louis XVI of France.