Lille (france): Silver Teapot By Antoine-joseph Gellez, 1756

- Silver hammered and cast (trims)
- Lille (France),1756–1757
- Antoine-Joseph Gellez, master silversmith in Lille from 1749 to 1777
- Totalheight: 20.5 cm
- Weight(gross): 830 g
- Provenance: private collection
- Very good condition

- Teapot with a flat base on a molded foot, featuring a pear-shaped body adorned with six flat ribs alternating with fluted sections. The body’s design extends onto the domed lid with a stepped rim, topped by an ebony finial on a silver stem. The spout, featuring alternating panels and gadroons, terminates in the head of a bird of prey with a crest and ruff. The ebony handle is secured by two cylindricalmolded brackets.
- Characteristic of the production of the Lille Generality, this teapot is the second known teapot by this silversmith featuring this form of alternating flanges with channels; the silversmith typically preferred pinched flanges.

- Hallmarks: Lille mark(on the lid, beneath the body): Crowned fleur-de-lis, 1725–1760 [NC-1,vol. I, p. 219]. Warden's mark (on thelid, beneath the body): Crowned “N,” Lille, 1756–1757 [NC-1, vol. I,p. 221] ; Master silversmith (large hallmarks, on the lid, under the body, on the spout): A, I // G, for Antoine-JosephGellez, master silversmith in Lille from 1749 to 1777 [NC-1, vol. I, pp. 279].
The hallmarks on this teapot comply with the 1700 regulations prior to the February 1757, which required the hallmarking of all metal fittings.

- Ref.: [NC-1] Cartier, Nicole:“Les orfèvres de Lille,” Vol. I & II, Leuven, Cahier duPatrimoine, Éditions Peeters, 1995. [NC-2] Cartier, Nicole: “Les orfèvres de Douai ,” Douai, Cahiers du Patrimoine No. 42, Musée de la Chartreuse,1995;[FD] Dennis, Faith: “Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver,” 2 vols., Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1960.