A gold and enamel snuff box, Jean Formey, Paris, 1756/1757, the enamels by Mademoiselle Duplessis

possibly Baron James de Rothschild;

Baron Gustave de Rothschild, his son, probably collection number R 15;

Baron Robert de Rothschild;

thence by descent;

Christie's, Geneva, 24th May 1986, lot 575

H. Clouzot, Dictionnaire des miniaturistes sur email, Paris, 1924, p.71

H. Clouzot, La miniature sur email en France, Paris, 1928, p.128

H. Nocq, Le poinçon de Paris, Paris, 1926-31, vol. ii, p.183, illustrated with marks

Little is known about the enamel painter Mademoiselle Duplessis. Clouzot suggests that she was the daughter of a certain J. G. Duplessis (no further details are provided) and the wife of the miniaturist J. B. J. Le Tellier, who died in 1777. She is mentioned in the Almanach des Beaux-Arts of 1753 and 1754 as an enameller ‘en vogue’. Only a small number of gold and enamel boxes or miniatures bearing her signature are known today, including two examples in the collection of the Musée du Louvre (OA 6855 and OA 2277) and two at the Metropolitan Museum. Among the latter is another rectangular example, decorated with finely painted enamels within scrolling borders, made in the same year as the present lot (see fig. 1).

It is remarkable how little biographical information survives—not only about Mademoiselle Duplessis, but also about her male contemporaries: highly skilled artists whose signatures occasionally appear on high-quality Parisian snuff boxes, mainly in the 1750s and 1760s. These include painters such as Liot, Taunay, and Hamelin (see also Charles Truman, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Gold Boxes, London, 2013, p. 41).

After completing his apprenticeship, the renowned gold box maker Jean Formey worked as a compagnon at the Gobelins from 1741 to 1754. He achieved master status in Paris on July 17, 1754, with sponsorship from Antoine Clérin, based at the Pont au Change, where Formey remained for the next thirty years. His trade card announced: ‘Formey Md Orfévre Joyallier Bijoutier, Fabrique, Vend, Achete, & Troque toutes sortes de Joyalleries Bijouteries,’ indicating his wide-ranging expertise in making, selling and buying all kinds of bijouterie such as gold boxes.

Formey was both accomplished and well-regarded in his profession: he held positions within the Goldsmiths' Corporation, becoming garde in 1759 and later premier grand-garde in 1778. According to Henri Nocq (Le Poinçon de Paris, 1926–31, vol. II, p. 183), Formey worked almost exclusively with gold and frequently submitted significant quantities for official hallmarking. His surviving work which can be found in museums and private collections around the world proves his substantial career creating boxes of excellent quality and in current fashions. Records place him in Fontainebleau, likely in retirement, from 1785 to 1791. There is, however, no known record of his death.