STYLE: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics
STYLE: Furniture, Silver, Ceramics
A LOUIS XV SILVER POT-À-OILLE, COVER, LINER, AND STAND, THOMAS GERMAIN, PARIS, 1740-42 , THE ARMS CHANGED BY HIS SON FRANÇOIS-THOMAS GERMAIN, c. 1764
Auction Closed
October 25, 08:20 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD
Bid
1,400,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A LOUIS XV SILVER POT-À-OILLE, COVER, LINER, AND STAND, THOMAS GERMAIN, PARIS, 1740-42
THE ARMS CHANGED BY HIS SON FRANÇOIS-THOMAS GERMAIN, c. 1764
The tureen on four cloven feet topped by foliage and outlined by matting headed by recessed masks with long braided beards, the front and back applied with armorial cartouches engraved with the Melo e Castro arms, topped by coronets and eagles flanked by spreading husk festoons on shaped matted panels, the reeded hoop handles mounted on shellwork cartouches, the rim of ribbon-bound reeding, the interior engraved with a scalloped band of reeding, engraved with later script initials B F below coronet
The liner with applied scroll grips backed by shells and engraved with the Melo e Castro arms
The cover chased with polished and matted radiating flutes, applied with four small crayfish alternating with four larger detachable crayfish fitted in recesses, the finial formed as four artichokes on a bed of spreading crinkled leaves, secured inside by an elaborate berry-form nut, the interior engraved with acanthus on reeded ground
The shaped circular stand with ribbon-tied reeded rim, lightly flat-chased with panels of key pattern on matted ground between four applied spread eagles within crossed sprays of foliage, the center engraved with the Melo e Castro arms within berried foliage sprays and with later script initials B F below coronet
Body of tureen: traces of maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, artichoke mark for large old work with new additions 1762-1768; Engraved DU -No 1; Small control mark on rim for circa 1900
Liner: maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, fox head discharge mark on rim 1738-44; Engraved DU-No 1; Small control mark on rim for circa 1900
Cover: maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, fox head discharge mark on rim 1738-44; Engraved DU No 1 on rim; Small control mark for circa 1900 twice on rim
Stand: maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, artichoke mark for large old work with new additions 1762-68 in center of back and behind rim; Engraved with signature:
FAIT.PAR.T.GERMAIN. ORFr. SCULPre.DU.ROY.AUX GALLERIES.DU. LOUVRE PARIS 1744 No 1 44m 4o 1s
333 oz
10,356 g
diameter of stand 17¾ in.; height overall 11¾in.
45 cm; 30 cm
Made by Thomas Germain 1740-44 (fig. 1)
Possibly for Jacques-Samuel Bernard, Comte de Coubert (1686-1753)
Reacquired by François-Thomas Germain before 1762-64, and sold to
Martinho de Melo e Castro (1716-1795), Portuguese Representative to the peace talks in Paris ending the Seven Years War (fig. 2)
His nephew, Dom António de Almeida Beja e Noronha (?-1797)
Probably his brother, the 5th Conde das Galveias, Dom João de Almeida de Melo e Castro (1756-1814)
Probably his brother, the 6th Conde das Galveias, Dom Francisco de Almeida de Melo e Castro (1758-1819) (fig. 3)
Jerónimo de Almeida Brandão e Sousa, Barão da Folgosa (1801-1848) (fig. 4)
His daughter, Júlia Sofia de Almeida Brandão e Sousa, Condessa de Geraz do Lima (1832-1891); sold in 1885 to
Tristão Guedes Correia de Queirós e Castelo-Branco, Marquês da Foz (1849-1917) (fig. 5)
Sold by the above in Paris in 1889
Boni de Castellane (1867-1932) (fig. 6), presumably acquired after his 1895 marriage to Anna Gould (1875-1961)
Probably sold after their divorce in 1906
Durlacher Brothers, London, by 1909
Purchased in August 1909 by Joseph Duveen, London
Keller Collection, Paris, probably Charles Keller (1848-1925) of the silversmithing firm Keller Frères
Jacques Helft, Paris, 1925
Sold to a private collector, 1926
By descent in that family
Catálogo da Exposição Retrospectiva de Arte Ornamental Portugueza e Hespanhola, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional, 1882, nr. 576, p.62.
Catálogo da exposição de obras de arte francesas existentes em Portugal, vol. I, Ourivesaria, Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, 1934, p.80.
Bapst, Germain. Catalogue raisonné des pièces d'orfèvrerie française composant la collection du Marquis Da Foz. Paris: Lahure, 1889, pp. 19-20, pl. VI.
Dias, Carlos Malheiro, Cartas de Lisboa, (primeira serie), 1904, pp.106-107.
Fialho de Almeida, Os Gatos, Agosto 1889, p. 17
Foz, Marquês da, A Baixela Germain da Antiga Coroa Portuguesa, 1887, Lisbon, published 1925, pp.14-15.
Helft, Jacques. Treasure Hunt. London: Faber and Faber, 1957, pp. 38-39
Helft, Jacques. Les Grands Orfèvres. Paris: Hachette, 1965, p. 124
Lastic, Georges de, and Pierre Jacky. Desportes: Catalogue raisonné. Paris: Editions d'Art Monelle Hayot, 2010, pp. 200, 208 and 229
Nocq, Henry. Le Poinçon de Paris. Paris: H. Floury, 1926, p. 242, illus.
Nocq, Henry, and P. Alfassa and J. Guerin. Orfèvrerie civile française du XVIe au début du XIXe siècle. Paris, Albert Lévy, 1927, planche XXIV.
Perrin, Christiane. François-Thomas Germain: Orfèvre des Rois. Paris: Editions d'Art Monelle Hayot, 1993, p. 98, illus.
Vignon, Charlotte. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. New York: The Frick Collection, 2019, p. 175.
Lisbon, 1882: Exposição Retrospectiva de Arte Ornamental, Sala O, nr.576
Paris, 1926. Exposition d'orfèvrerie française civile du XVIe siècle au début du XVIIIe, Musée des Arts décoratifs, no. 34, p. 11, illus.
Considered the finest goldsmith of 18th century Europe, Thomas Germain (1673-1748) spent his early years in Rome, working on the ornaments of the church of Il Gésu and absorbing a range of stylistic influences. At almost 30, Germain returned to Paris and was received as a master in 1720; in 1723 he was appointed Sculpteur-Orfèvre du Roi, sculptor and goldsmith to the King, with the privilege of workshops in the Galleries du Louvre. His work was held in great esteem at the time, with even Voltaire speaking of Germain’s “divine hand.” His patrons included Louis XV and the Royal Household, the Queen of Spain, the Kings of Naples and Denmark, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Portugal with several members of his Court. Shortly after Germain’s death, the architect J.F. Blondel wrote, “to his professional talents which he had received from nature he added a profound knowledge of design, sculpture and architecture.”
Very little important 18th century silver survived the melts of 1759 and during the French Revolution. This piece, and another tureen sold by Sotheby’s in 1996 for $10.3 million, may be the last known major works by Thomas Germain in private hands. The handful of other pieces preserved from the workshop of the elder Germain are mostly in museum collections, including the Louvre, the Getty, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Hermitage, and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon.