Silver Olive Spoon With The Arms Of Blacas And Estienne De Villemus, Aix-en-provence, 1734

-  Olive spoon
-  Sterling silver, hammered and cut
-  Aix-en-Provence (France), 1734
-  By Jean Silbert, master goldsmith from 1702 (before) to 1748
-  Excellent condition
-  Length: 28.4 cm ; Weight: 120g
-  Provenance: Louis d'Estienne, lord of Villemus, knight of Saint-Louis, colonel of infantry, married on March 3, 1733 to Marie-Thérèse de Blacas

-  Plain-flat model olive spoon. Oval spoon decorated with a grid pattern of olives surrounded by tears, the stem is chamfered, the spatula bearing the alliance coat of arms of the Blacas and Estienne de Villems families surmounted by a marquis's crown: on the sinister, silver with sixteen rays of gules for Marie-Thérèse de Blacas, and on the dexter, azure with the fess of gold accompanied by three silver bezants, two in chief and one in point for Louis d'Estienne de Villemus, colonel of infantry and knight of the order of Saint-Louis, married in 1733.

-  Jean Silbert is a member of a dynasty of goldsmiths whose father Joseph Silbert was a goldsmith from 1655 to 1720 in Aix-en-Provence. He was registered in the Jurande before 1702, the year in which he apprenticed his brother Augustin. Married to Marianne Munelle, he has two sons Thomas and Jean-Baptiste. On his death he was replaced by Honoré Burel, another member of a dynasty of Aix goldsmiths while the widow continued the activity of the workshop under the mark of her brother-in-law Augustin. Two pieces by the goldsmith are referenced in the literature: two cruets dated 1725 [3, n°159 and 2 n°119] and a soup spoon from 1729 [3, n°135] all in the Jourdan-Barry collection .
-  The hallmarks (on the stem): warden's mark: 1734 // P // AIX, jurande d'Aix-en-Provence, 1734 ([4] nd; [3]); master goldsmith: SI surmounting two remedy points and a five-pointed star, second hallmark (after 1729) of Jean Silbert master goldsmith in Aix-en-Provence, before 1702 and 1748 ([3] p.229); discharge: B between two remedy points surmounted by a four-pointed crown, discharge from Aix-en-Provence between 1734 and 1738; countermark: a six-pointed wheel (?).
-  Ref. : [1] Collectif : « L'orfèvrerie civile en Provence au 18^e », exposition Musée Grobet-Labadié, 2005 ; [2] Bimbenet-Privat & Furhing : "La collection Jourdan-Barry", Ed J. Kugel, 2005 ; [3] Jourdan-Barry : "L'orfèvrerie de la juridiction d'Aix en Provence", de Nobele, 1974 ; [4] Helft, Jacque : "Les poinçons des provinces françaises", de Nobele, 1968