l'Espérance France, Paris, Circa 1886–1889

Rare French seal in solid gilded silver (vermeil), depicting the Christian allegory of Hope, represented as a young woman draped in the ancient style, accompanied by her traditional iconographic attribute, the anchor.

In the tradition of Christian art inherited from late antiquity, Hope is depicted as a woman. The anchor, a major symbol from the Epistle to the Hebrews - "This hope is for us like an anchor of the soul" (He 6:19) - expresses the stability of the soul in the face of the storms of the world, while the gaze turned to the sky reflects the confident expectation of salvation.

The work is distinguished by a chisel of remarkable finesse, of a level of execution rarely encountered for an object of this typology. The modeling of the bun, the delicacy of the hands and toes, the subtle rendering of the drape of the toga and the cross worn as a necklace testify to an extremely precise tool work. Some details, sometimes reduced to a few microns, are only fully revealed to the attentive eye, highlighting the technical mastery and refinement of the goldsmith.

The base of the seal is set with a beautiful carnelian, revealing in daylight a warm orange hue, perfectly tuned to vermilion and reinforcing the precious and luminous character of the whole.

The seal is provided with a golden silver (vermeil) seal table, perfectly preserved, remained virgin of any engraving, a particularly sought-after circumstance highlighting its character as a state object that has remained intact since the origin.

The seal is punched:

– Lucien Louis Bouclier (L.B.), goldsmith's stamp of the Paris Guarantee, active between 1886 and 1889;

– wild boar hure, guaranteeing massive money for small works.

Height: 6.7 cm

Gross weight: 36.10 g

Important: It is in its original box.

This is the reason why it is in such beautiful condition!