FRENCH SILVER 115
- Tray
Paris, 1750
By Frari9ois-Thomas Germain
Silver
Marked underneath with the maker's stamp
of F.T.G., a lamb's fleece, two grains, and a
crowned fleur-de-lys; a crowned A^(the war
den's mark used between July 15,1750, and
January 22,1751); a crowned A with palm
and laurel branches (the charge mark used
between October 10, 1750, and October 13,
1756, under the firmier Julien Berthe); a
boar's head (the "restricted warranty" of
.800 minimum silver standard used in Paris
exclusively from May 10,1838); and a swan
in an oval (the standard mark for silver of
unknown origin that is sold at auction as
used by contracting countries between July 1,
1893, and 1970). Engraved in the center with
the arms of the marquis de Menars.
Height: iVs in. (3.8 cm); Width: SVs in.
(21.9 cm); Depth: y^7 /s in. (20 cm)
Accession number 71.DG.78
PROVENANCE
Marquis de Menars; (?) Junius Spencer
Morgan, New York; [Puiforcat, Paris, by
1926, and through 1938]; David David-Weill,
Paris (sold, Palais Galliera, Paris, Novem
ber 24,1971, lot 24); purchased at that sale
by J. Paul Getty.
EXHIBITIONS
Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Exposition
d'orfevrerie frangaise civile du XVTe Steele au
debut du XIXe, April-May 1926, no. 91;
London, 25 Park Lane, Three French Reigns,
February-April 1933, no. 388; New York,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, French
Domestic Silver, May-September 1938,
no. 149, pi. 85.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Brauk and Y. Bottineau, L'Orfevrerie
frangaise du XVIIIe Steele (Paris, 1959), p. 186,
pi. 17; Faith Dennis, Three Centuries of
French Domestic Silver: Its Makers and Its
Marks (New York, i960), vol. 1, p. 116,
fig. 149; Henry Nocq, Le Poingon de Paris
(Paris, 1968), vol. 2, p. 243, illus. opposite
p. 244.
- Sauceboat on Stand
Paris, 1762
By Jean-Baptiste-Francois Cheret
Silver; silver-gilt
Sauceboat and stand marked with maker's
stamp of J. B.C.-, a key and two grains below
a crowned fleur-de-lys; a crowned Γ (the
warden's mark used between July 21,1762,
and July 13,1763); a crowned A with laurel
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leaves (the charge mark used between
November 22,1762, and December 23,1768,
under the firmier Jean-Jacques Prévost);
crossed laurel branches (the charge mark
used on small silver objects between Novem
ber 22,1762, and December 23,1768, under
the firmier Jean-Jacques Prévost); a pointer's
head (the discharge mark used on small sil
ver objects between November 22,1762, and
December 23, 1768); a hunting horn (the
countermark used between December 23,
1768, and September 1,1775, under the
firmier Julien Alaterre); a man's slipper (the
countermark used between September 1,
1775, and April 7,1781, under the firmier
Jean-Bap tiste Fouache); a boar's head (the
"restricted warranty" of .800 minimum sil
ver standard used in Paris exclusively from
May 10,1838); and a swan in an oval (the
standard mark for silver of unknown origin
that is sold at auction as used by contracting
countries between July 1,1893, and 1970).
A coat of arms has probably been burnished
off the cartouche on the sauceboat.
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