Silver Necessary, France, Early 17th Century

Important small silver and steel mecessaire, France, circa 1620-1630. A pair of scissors, two knives and an awl made of silver and steel with decorative elements of three naked archers clearly evoking the South American continent, are kept in a shaped case decorated with small irons of a scattering of fleurs-de-lis. The use of these small portable necessaires is not clearly defined: embroidery? minor surgery? Multiple use? This necessaire and its four instruments, in a rare and perfect state of preservation, is part of a series of which other examples with the same type of engravings on the silver handles can be found: Louvres coast OA 522, former Sauvageot collection (with only a pair of scissors, an awl and a penknife) or Nessi sale of 2012 at Koller, lot 570 (incomplete with the pair of scissors). Certainly one of the most beautiful examples known in private hands. Total height: 10.8cm.