Silver Ewer By Jean-charles Fauché, Paris, 1742-1743

- Ewer
- Forged, cast and chased silver
- Paris, 1742-1743
- Master silversmith: Jean-Charles Fauché, master silversmith from 1733 to 1762
- Height: 9.76in (24.8 cm); diameter (of the foot): 9.9 cm; weight: 31.85oz (903g)
- Good condition

- Baluster-shaped ewer rests on a circular pedestal molded with fillets and a smooth groove. The body is surrounded by a wide horizontal fillet molding, a second finer one is scalloped; the ogee neck is bordered by a molding ending in two scrolls forming a slightly half-open spout. The hinged lid with a molded edge has a grip on a radiating terrace of gadroons. The contoured and openwork handle resting on the lower molding of the body is decorated with acanthus leaves and chiseled volutes topped with a snail lined with a stylized shell. Coat of arms engraved on the body.

- Jean-Charles Fauché, talented goldsmith, worked in Paris between September 25, 1733, the date of his reception as a master, guaranteed by Jean-Baptiste de Lens, to the date of his death in 1762. In view of his surviving production, it seems that he was a specialist in the production of toiletries: pots, beakers, root boxes [2, n°216], basins and ewers… Of the ewers, if the general shape and the moldings on the body are invariable elements, the complexity of the decoration is a sum of ornamental elements made available to his customers, with or without "appliques" (he was fond of reed appliques, [1, Photo IV of 1737 & 3 n°133], chiseling on the body, more or less complex and convoluted handles. We find this openwork handle topped with a snail on the ewer of 1739-1742 preserved at the Metropolitan Museum [3, n°135].

- Hallmarks (under the body and in the lid): master goldsmith: JC with a bee surmounting an F two crowned remedy grains, for Jean-Charles Fauché, Parisian master goldsmith from September 25, 1733 until 1762 [Nocq T.II p.162]; jurande: B crowned, Paris from March 9, 1742 to May 30, 1743 [1, n°391]; charge (only under the body): A crowned with two interlaced palms, Paris from October 1, 1738 to October 1, 1744 [1, n°381]; discharge (on the edge of the body, on the molding): fox's head, discharge for small gold and silver works, Paris from October 1, 1738 to October 1, 1744 [1, n°384].

- Ref. : [1] Bimbenet-Privat, Michèle & de Fontaine, Gabriel : « La datation de l’orfèvrerie de l’ancien régime », Paris musées, Paris, 1995 ; [2] Bimbenet, Furhing : « Orfèvrerie française- Collection Jourdan Barry », Kugel, Paris, 2005 ; [3] Dennis, Faith : « Three centuries of french domestic silver. Its makers and its marks », 2 vol., The Metropolitan Museum of New York, New York, 1960 ; [4] Nocq, Henry : « Le poinçon de Paris. Répertoire des maîtres-orfèvres de la juridiction de Paris depuis le Moyen-âge jusqu’à la fin du 18^e siècle », 4 vol.  Paris, 1926-1931.