Louis XVI Vari-colour Gold étui

Maker: Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Choconain-Delannay

Paris, 1788-1789Vari-colour gold, 12.4 cm – 43 g
Refined octagonal nécessaire étui, crafted in vari-colour gold and decorated with exceptional goldsmithing skill. The surfaces display rectangular guilloché panels with wavy patterns and small raised dots, framed by yellow gold borders chased with leaves and ribbon motifs. The use of gold alloys in different shades creates a subtle polychrome effect, characteristic of the finest Parisian production of the late 18th century.
The ends are chased with vegetal and geometric designs, while the edges are enriched with neoclassical friezes. The hallmarks correspond to the Paris guarantee mark in use between 1783 and 1789 and the maker’s mark of Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Choconain-Delannay, a renowned goldsmith active during the Louis XVI period.