Dinant 1720-1740, De Cartier d'Yves, Pair Of Solid Silver Sauceboats, Gilbert De Nalinne

Extremely rare pair of solid silver sauce boats dating from the first half of the eighteenth century with the master goldsmith mark of Gilbert de Nalinne, goldsmith in Dinant. The goldsmith pieces from the small town of Dinant are very rare but well listed thanks to the immense work of Pierre de Raztzisky d'Ostrowick. Thanks to the author we know that the master mark GDN struck twice on each of these two sauce boats belonged to Gilbert de Nalinne, son of the brewer of the same name and master goldsmith in Dinant between 1703 and 1739. He had two sons and a grandson who were goldsmiths in Dinant. More than forty pieces of goldsmith work by them are listed in the churches around Dinant, mainly monstrances which seem to have been a family specialty. Civil pieces with the hallmark of the town of Dinant are extremely rare. Personally, I have only bought and sold one, a very beautiful Louis XV coffee pot with the coat of arms of the Leffe Abbey, now in the collection of the King Baudouin Foundation. The two sauce boats are engraved with a coat of arms topped with a crown belonging to a member of the de Cartier d'Yves family, lords and castellans of Marchiennes-au-pont at the time these sauce boats were made. A noble family of the principality of Liège, the de Quartier or de Cartier delivered several high magistrates throughout the Ancien Régime. Part of their castle in Marchiennes where these pretty sauce boats garnished the festive tables, still exists. The pair weighs 680 grams