Small Oval Dish In Solid Silver With Coat Of Arms, By Claude Laurent, Paris 1743-1744

Small oval dish in solid silver
Model with six contours and fillet moldings, with re-entrant ends
In the 18th century, this beautiful round model of oval was called racourcy [Louis XV, p. 144]
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Solid silver (~958/1000)
Goldsmith Claude Laurent (received master in 1724, died in 1746)
Paris, 1743-1744
32 x 22 cm
Weight: 607 g
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Very good general condition. Scratches from use. Superb patina.
The proportions are perfect, with a very beautiful hollow basin.
Beautiful coat of arms, to be identified (natural tree, under count's crown)
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Hallmarks
Hallmark of the master goldsmith:
- Hallmark of Claude Laurent (crowned fleur-de-lys, two grains, CL, a grill) [Nocq III p.40-41 and Dennis II n°210 p.79], struck imperfectly twice. Regulatory hallmarks in use in Paris from October 1, 1738 to October 1, 1744:
- Charge for large silver works (a crowned A with two intertwined palms) [BP n°381]
- Hallmark of the common house in use from 05.30.1743 to 07.06.1744 (crowned letter C) [BP n°392]
- Discharge for large silver works (A bull's head) [BP n°383]
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On the reverse is the weight. Usually engraved, it is here hallmarked: 2 M 4 O 4 G ½ (2 marks, 4 ounces, 4 ½ grains). Below, at the tip, almost erased, an inventory number: 125-40.
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Claude Laurent is one of the five masters received in 1724 in Paris, by royal decree. On February 3, 1724, living on rue de Harlay, parish of Saint-Barthélemy, he had his hallmark inscribed, guaranteed by Jean-André Picard. He died on rue de Gesvres, on March 30, 1746 (Affiches de Paris). His widow kept a shop until 1748, then moved to Pont Saint-Michel in 1751-1752 and to Quai de la Mégisserie from 1753 to 1756.
Laurent is a renowned goldsmith, who can be found in the greatest collections. Four six-contoured bowls with the Bessey de Contenson coat of arms, dated between 1744 and 1748, were included in the David-Weill sale [David-Weill 1971, no. 37, 41,000 FRF]; they returned to Drouot in 2017, under the hammer of Rémy le Fur (10,249 EUR).
A very beautiful bowl with the Meysonnier coat of arms, with an oval border and canal decoration and dated 1725-1726, was included in the Jourdan-Barry collection [Jourdan-Barry, no. 120 p.52].
Works by Claude Laurent can also be found in museums collections. The MET in New York, for example, has a dish very similar to ours, inscribed with the same hallmarks of the year 1743 (see our photo 2) (Dennis I, no. 210, p. 151; Dennis II, no. 210, p. 79).
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References
BP: Michèle Bimbenet-Privat et Gabriel de Fontaines, La datation de l'orfèvrerie parisienne sous l'Ancien Régime, Paris-Musées 1995
David-Weill : Catalogue de vente de la collection D. David-Weill, Ader-Picard, Palais Galliéra, Paris le 4 juin 1971, vol.1
Dennis I & II: Faith Dennis, Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1960, vol. I & II
Jourdan-Barry : Peter Fuhring, Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Alexis Kugel, Orfèvrerie française, la collection Jourdan-Barry, vol. II, J. Kugel, Paris 2005
Louis XV: Yves Carlier & Hélène Delalex (dir.), Louis XV, passions d'un roi, Versailles 2022
Nocq III: Henry Nocq, Le poinçon de Paris, Léonce Laget, Paris 1968, tome III