A LOUIS XV GOLD SNUFF-BOX

Jean George was undoubtedly 'one of the most celebrated of the French gold boxes makers' (Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Los Angeles, 1991, p. 71). He worked extensively for the Royal Court of France, supplying a gold box for the service of the Menus Plaisirs du Roi in 1755, and, between 1755 and 1761, several other boxes for the service of the royal gifts, the Présents du Roi. His widow, Jeanne-Françoise Texier, continued his business and married her husband's apprentice Pierre-François Mathis de Beaulieu. A gold box decorated with engine-turning by Jean George and dated 1755/1756 is illustrated in Clare Le Corbeiller, European and American Snuff Boxes 1730-1830, London, 1966, fig. 57. For a discussion on the development in Paris of the art of ornamental turning on a lathe see Charles Truman, The Wallace Collection of Gold Boxes, London, 2013, p. 61.