Ath 1767, Six Silver And Mother-of-pearl Dessert Knives, Philippront Jean Louis

Splendid and extremely rare set of six Louis XV dessert knives with the hallmark of the town of Ath, the hallmark of the year 1767 and the hallmark of master silversmith Jean Louis Philippront. They have solid silver blades soldered to silver-mounted white mother-of-pearl handles. They are of a quality rarely found in eighteenth-century silversmithing. The nobility of the materials combined with the simplicity of their form is almost reminiscent of Art Deco. Jean Louis Philippront is without a doubt the most important Ath goldsmith of the second half of the eighteenth century. Unlike most of his colleagues who struggle to survive thanks to the manufacture of "minutiae" (shoe buckles and small boxes and snuff boxes), JL Philippront creates sumptuous goldsmithery of very high quality. He began his career in 1752 and worked until the mid-1780s. His works in the Louis XV style are very successful. But it is when he begins to create objects in the Louis XVI style that he demonstrates true virtuosity and sometimes even a touch of humor since one day I discovered a coffee pot by his hand where he had made the spout in the shape of an immense tubular brick chimney like there were everywhere in Hainaut at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The extremely rare dessert knives that I am presenting to you today clearly demonstrate the virtuosity of the goldsmith in his finesse of execution and the choice of materials. In the field of cutlery dating from the eighteenth century, dessert cutlery and knives are twenty times rarer than large cutlery. This set is therefore a real rarity in several respects. The weight of silver (938%) in this set is close to 300 grams. In two handles we notice cracks which are visible but not unstable.