Sauce Boat In Strerling Silver By Jean-baptiste Chéret, Paris, 1770-1771

-  Sauce boat
-  Sterling silver hammered, melted and chiseled
-  By Jean-Baptiste François Chéret, master goldsmith in Paris from 1759 to 1791 (still recorded)
-  Paris, 1770-1771
-  Height (at the handles): 11 cm; length: 22.5cm; width: 12cm; Weight: 417g
- Very good condition, beautiful and fresh carving
- Provenance: private collection, Sotheby's sale 15th of december 2004, exhibition “French Art in the 18th century”, Copenhagen, 1935, n° 293

- Sauceboat in the shape of a gondola with two pouring spouts rests on a pedestal with contours molded with windings. The edge of the cup is underlined by two large moldings which meet in its center in two winding handles lined with chiseled acanthus leaves accentuating the serpentine movement of the cup. 

-  Born in 1728, son of a Parisian master goldsmith, he was received as a goldsmith on July 13rd, 1759, and became one of the great goldsmiths both for the quality of his works and the size of his workshop; in 1774, it is the 10th workshop by its cashflows. From 1775, he accumulates the charge, that of guard then adviser controller of the king at the Town hall in place of Jacques-Nicolas Roettiers who stops his activity. In 1787 and 1788, he is warden. In 1789 and 1790, he was controller of rents. A member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Marseille, his varied production combines as much pieces of relative simplicity, always with a perfect finish, as pieces of a high quality of realization of a chastened roccoco spirit which owe a lot to his as a draftsman, we find his talent through preserved works such as the double salt cellar in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (Inv. 26866B, [3] p.48), a mustard pot with twisted ribs in the Metropolitan Museum of New York ([2 ] n°96 p.90) or even a pair of candelabra ([2] n°98 p.91) and candlesticks in the same collection ([2] n°97 p.90). Two major sets rank him among the greatest goldsmiths: an ewer and its basin dated 1777 (Christie's sale of June 30, 2022) and the pair of sauceboats brought together by the Getty Museum in Malibu (Inv.71.DG.76)

- Hallmarks : Silversmith : JBC, a key crowned for Jean-Baptiste-François Chéret, Paris,  1759-1791 ([4], vol I p.259-260) ; Charge :  Paris du 1^er octobre 1768 au 18 novembre 1774 ([1] n°466) ; warden's mark : G crowned, Paris from 16 juillet 1770 to 10 juillet 1771 ([1], n°482) ; discharge (sur la moulure du piédouche) : a helmeted man's head in profile looking to the left, discharge for gold and small works of silver, Paris from 1^er octobre 1768 to 18 novembre 1774 ([1] n°468).   

-  Ref. : [1] Bimbenet-Privat, Michèle & Fontaine, Gabriel de : « La datation de l’orfèvrerie parisienne sous l’ancien régime », Paris Musées, 1995 ; [2] Dennis, Faith : "Three centuries of French Domestic Silver…", 2. Vol, New York, 1960 ; [3] Mabille, Gérard : "Orfèvrerie française des XVI^e, XVII^e, XVIII^e siècles. Catalogue raisonné des collections du musée des arts décoratif et du musée Nissim de Camondo", Paris, 1984 ; [4] Nocq, Henri : « Le poinçon de Paris. Répertoire des maîtres orfèvres de la juridiction de Paris depuis le Moyen-Age jusqu’à la fin du XVIII^e siècle », 5 vol., Paris, rééd. 1968 ; [5] Fontaine, Sophie : « Jean-Baptiste Chéret », Mémoire de DEA, T. I-II, Septembre 2004