Plat "à perdreaux" en argent par Edme-Pierre Balzac, Paris, 1752

-  Small oval dish
- Hammered silver, cast molding
-  By Edme-Pierre Balzac (master goldsmith from 1739-1781(?))
- Length: 35.4 cm, width: 24 cm; weight: 856g
- Very good condition, the border threads in very good condition, beautiful patina with marks of use (not repolished), defaced coat of arms barely visible.

- Small oval dish called "à perdreaux" with eight pinched contours bordered with molded fillets. Ecu worsens to the number “GD”.

- Hallmarks (under the molding): charge: A crowned for the major works of Paris from October 1, 1750 to October 1, 1756; warden's mark: L crowned for Paris from January 22, 1752 to July 15, 1752; master goldsmith: EPB with a cinquefoil for Edme-Pierre Balzac, master goldsmith from 1739 to 1781 (?); discharge (on the molding): a boar's head for Paris from October 1, 1750 to October 1, 1756.

- Edme-Pierre Balzac began his apprenticeship in 1719 with a master from his hometown, Gien, in 1719. Subsequently, he went to Paris and was named "Orfèvre privilégié suivant la Cour" on July 4, 1739, through the purchase of the office of merchant goldsmith following the Court. On January 7, 1749, he sold his office to his brother Jean-François but retained his hallmark and his position as Parisian goldsmith, being guaranteed by Guillaume Loir. He was made master in 1747 under the King's declaration in favor of the poor of the community. On January 17, 1753, he filed for bankruptcy. According to the Paris Poster of September 2, 1755, Balzac resumed his activities. In 1766 he invented the machine “for printing cutlery with nets” and in 1771 attacked his former worker who had copied the machine. In 1781, it was reported in the provinces. The production of this master is represented in the greatest French and foreign collections: the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Louvre Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris...