A set of twelve French silver-gilt plates, Tobias Ludwig Krug, Strasburg, 1768

Antenor Patiño (1896-1982)

Graf, Paris, 2015

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Antenor Patiño (1896-1982)

Graf, Paris, 2015

The arms on these plates is that of Count Antoine-Chrestien de Nicolay (1712-1777). A Knight of Malta, he rose during the War of Austrian Succesion, becoming marechal de camp in 1744, lieutenant general in 1748, and governor of the fortifications of Marseille in 1756. He was very active in the Seven Years War, including Charleroi and Minden, and was wounded at Lawfeld. He became a Marshall of France in 1775, and was one of four Marshalls chosen to carry regalia at the coronation of Louis XVI on June 11 of that year.

According to family tradition, during Louis XV reign, 7 marshalls had been named, and each of them received as nickname one of the 7 deadly sins. Nicolay was known as "Gourmandise" as can easily been understood from his portrait !

The Count married in 1763 Marie-Hyacinthe Ralet de Chalet, widow of Claude-Barthélémy de Bonnefond, receveur général des domaines et bois de Bretagne. However his taste for impressive silver could date from earlier, based on an important pair of three-light candelabra of 1756-57 by Simon Bourget, in a private collection (see Kugel). The Count died in 1777 without issue.

These plates are part of a rare surviving set of twenty-four plates, the only known gilt examples from 18th century Strasbourg; the other set of twelve were in the collection of Jaime Ortiz-Patino. A single gilt plate of 1769, by Johann Jacob Kirstein and with Russian import marks, is in the collection of the Strasbourg Museums, see Deux siècles d’orfèvrerie à Strasbourg, 2004, no. 79, p. 136-37.