LOUIS XVI PERIOD
POMPONNE LETTER CASE
Oval-section gilded metal "pomponne". Decorated with attributes of Gardening, Music and Love.
Gross weight: 47.68 gr.
Dimensions: 2 x 12.7 cm.
THE MARQUIS DE POMPONNE GOES DOWN IN HISTORY
We all use this family name, which has become an illustration of gilded metal, a technique adapted in the Louis XVI era to produce jewelry and objets de vertu such as snuffboxes, letter cases and lorgnettes. This metal was rigorously controlled to avoid creating doubts in the minds of buyers.
It was at the end of the Ancien Régime, in the Hotel de Pomponne on rue de la Verrerie in Paris, that two goldsmiths, Turgot and Daumy, perfected this copper-based alloy, which gives the impression of a gold object.
From 1840 onwards, electrolysis replaced all previous gilding and silvering techniques, and Ruolz and Christofle introduced the word "silvered" or "gilded" metal into everyday vocabulary.
Condition report:
Wear to gilding.
A gilded metal case, circa 1770-1780.
Dimensions : 2 x 12.7 cm.
Condition report:
Traces of wear to the gilded metal.
Estim. 100 - 150 EUR