Roccoco Silver Cruet By Jean-pascal Miston, Montpellier (france), 1765-1766

- Oil cruet
- Cast, hammered and chased silver
- Jean-Pascal Miston, master silversmith in Montpellier from 1758, replacing his father Pierre Miston, until 1772
- Montpellier, 1765-1766
- Length: 32 cm; height: 9 cm; weight: 806g
- Superb condition, beautiful patina, very fresh chasing
- Provenance: private collection

- Silver oil cruet stand formed of a large oval basin on four cast scroll feet decorated with a matte clasp and fleuron. Its ends are decorated with a rich cartouche decorated with acanthus and moldings. The bottom of the basin is marked with a rocaille chiseled in relief on a matte background delimiting the four locations of the bottle and cork holders. The supports have a solid base, with a molded border with staples, the top parts of consoles in symmetrical moldings decorated with stylized shells. The stoppers, in ogee, taking up the decoration of the interior rockery of the basin, each bears a chiseled dove with outstretched wings.

- This model of cruet which seems to be the creation of Jean Bellon, companion goldsmith of François-Thomas Germain, then, goldsmith of Montpellier from 1759; he worked with Pierre Miston. Many works of the goldsmith are found transcribed under the hallmarks of the goldsmiths Miston, Bazille and Belleville. It seems in view of the quality of the works produced that they could be made in the context of collaborations between workshops to respond to orders. A strictly identical oil cruet by the goldsmith Jean Bellon dating from 1759 [Deguara 2, p.79] was sold at the auction of the Jean Thuile collection (Tajan, October 24, 2007, n°10).

- Hallmarks (under the basin): Master goldsmith: I between two grains // P, one grain, M on fleur-de-lis, the whole crowned for Jean-Pascal Miston, Montpellier, master goldsmith from 1758 to 1772 (?) [Thuile T.III, pp.92]; warden's mark: crowned R on the letters MPL, Montpellier, 1765-1766 [Helft nd & Thuile]; charge: a crowned open hand, Montpellier, 1756-1768 [Helft n°573b & Thuile]; discharge: a crowned cane head, Montpellier, 1753-1756 [7 nd & 11].

-  Ref. : [BP] Bimbenet-Privat,Michèle & Fuhring Peter : « Orfèvreriefrançaise, collection Jourdan-Barry », J. Kugel, Paris, 2005 ; [Deguara 1]Deguara, Laurent : « Travail d’orfèvrerie », Musée languedocien, exposition du 21 octobre 2011 au 30 juin 2012, Montpellier, 2011 ;[Deguara 2] Deguara, Laurent : « Orfèvrerie de Montpellier et du Languedoc, Généralité de Montpellier, XVIIe & XVIIIe siècle », Exposition au Musée Languedocien du 20 juin au 19 octobre 1996, Société Archéologique deMontpellier, 1996 ; [Helft] Helft, Jacques : « Poinçons des Provinces Françaises », Ed.F. de Nobele, Paris, 1968 ; [Thuile] Thuile, Jean : « Histoire de l’orfèvrerie du Languedoc, Généralités de Montpellier et de Toulouse », Ed. F. de Nobele, Paris, 1964