Sugar Spoon - Rare Early Model With Violin-shaped Spatula, Shells And Clasps - Paris 1745

SUGAR SPOON
Sterling silver (~958/1000)
Silversmith François Lamiche, received his master's degree in 1717
Rare model with fillets and a fiddle-shaped spatula, shells, and clasps
Rochefort d'Ally coat of arms
Louis XV period
Paris, 1745-1746
Length: 20.6 cm
Spoon diameter: 6.8 cm
Weight: 92 g

Our spoon is interesting for several reasons: its early date, 1745-1746 (the first sugar spoon models date from 1729-1730); the rich decoration of its fiddle-shaped spatula, with shells and clasps, and the pierced design of the spoon, very original in Parisian production.
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Maker's Mark
• Crowned fleur-de-lis, two grains, FL, a water leaf for François Lamiche (or La Miche) [Nocq III p. 18 for the notice & Nocq V supplement, p. 23 for the hallmark design].
François Lamiche lived on rue Saint-Louis, in the parish of Saint-Barthélémy, when he had his hallmark inscribed on January 20, 1717. According to Nocq's notice, Lamiche "fell into madness" at the end of 1751 and took refuge with his son-in-law Jean-Henri Caumartin, also a silversmith. However, Nicolas-Martin Langlois, who was still an apprentice to Claude Ballin (and who would become a famous spoonmaker), worked under Lamiche's hallmark before the Court jointly fined him and Lamiche 100 livres after seizing the hallmark and confiscating 7 marks of work.
He no longer appears in the lists in 1753.
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Regulation hallmarks for Paris, from October 1, 1744 to October 1, 1750
• Charge hallmark for large silver works (A crowned A) [Bimbenet-Privat no. 394, p. 128];
• Discharge hallmark for small gold and silver works (A salmon head) [Bimbenet-Privat no. 397, p. 128];
• Hallmark of the guild inscribed from November 27, 1745 to November 28, 1746 (crowned E) [Bimbenet-Privat no. 404, p. 129].
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Coat of Arms
Under a count's crown, gules, with a wavy argent bend, accompanied by six martlets in an orle.
Motto: Per iter (or sic itur?) ad astra
This coat of arms refers to the Rochefort d'Ally family from Auvergne, mentioned since the beginning of the 11th century and extinct in 1855 in the male line.

Références
• Michèle Bimbenet-Privat et Gabriel de Fontaines, La datation de l'orfèvrerie parisienne sous l'Ancien Régime, Paris-Musées 1995
• Henry Nocq,Le poinçon de Paris, tome III et Supplément V, Léonce Laget, Paris 1968