For the seal bearer of King Louis XV: The ecritoire of Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville
Silver, porcelain, mirror pane, bronze, gilding. An ecritoire formed as a detailed model of a sailing boat with mast and rigging placed upon a glass mirror pane resembling still water and mounted on an ormolu base with raised rococo décor. The inkwell and pounce box concealed within the two barrels on the deck and with small lidded compartments in the fish traps at the stern of the boat. The raised anchor can be seen at the bow, and below the stern the rudder formed as a finely chased dolphin. On the port side we see tiny fish and crustaceans caught in a finely knotted silver net, the starboard side fitted with a candlestick with two nozzles. When the fabric sail is unfolded, it forms a screen to protect from the light. A large cylindrical clock with a white enamel dial over the stern of the boat entwined by a climbing rose with polychrome Vincennes porcelain flowers that extends up towards the rigging. H 41, W 39.8, D 25 cm.
Paris, marks of François-Thomas Germain, 1752. The clock movement marked "F.Rabby a Paris", for François Rabby I, Paris after 1717.
Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville (1701 - 1794) came from an old family of court officials who had been resident in Paris since the beginning of the 16th century. Jean-Baptiste enjoyed a remarkably long life span for a person of his era, which allowed him to witness almost the entire 18th century and look back on an equally remarkable career. Appointed alderman at the age of 20 (1721), he later became President of the Great Council (1738), President of the Board of Trade (1744), Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences (1746), Controller General of Finance (1745-1754), Royal Minister of State (1749), and Secretary of State for the Navy (1754-1757). Under the auspices of the Marquise de Pompadour, he was among the most influential favourites of King Louis XV, who appointed him Keeper of the Seals in 1750. During this period, Jean-Baptiste de Machault began - at great expense - the construction of his chateau at Arnouville-les-Gonnesse, which witnesses described as "grandiose". He is still considered one of the greatest art connoisseurs of his time. The pieces from his collection that have been passed down to us are among the most prestigious French artworks of the 18th century - and certainly stand up to comparison with the treasures from the collection of the Marquise de Pompadour. After retiring from politics in 1789, he moved in to the castle of Thoiry, which had been acquired through marriage by one of his sons, Charles-Henri-Louis (1747 - 1830). However, the writing set apparently remained in Arnouville, where it survived the turmoil of the Revolution hidden in a linen closet. Jean-Baptiste de Machault himself was imprisoned in 1794 and died in captivity a short time later. A pair of sauce boats designed as sailing ships can be found in the collections of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga and the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda in Lisbon which were executed by François-Thomas Germain for the Portuguese court in 1758.
Francois-Thomas Germain became a master silversmith in Paris in 1748 at the age of 22 when succeeding his father Thomas Germain. In the same year, he inherited from his father the title of Orfèvre et Sculpteur du Roi. His shop in the Galeried du Louvre belonged to the most prestigious in Paris, supplying the European aristocracy and the courts of France, Portugal and Russia. Albeit being one of the most successful silversmiths of his time, Germain came into financial trouble in the 1760s and had to declare bancruptcy in 1765. He died impoverished and highly indepted in Paris in 1791.
Provenance
After the end of the Revolution, Charles-Henri de Machault had this sumptuous ecritoire transported to Thoiry, and later bequeathed it to his son Eugène (1774 - 1822), who in turn passed it down to his son-in-law Leónce de Vogüé. He then bequeathed it to his daughter Angélique, the later Vicomtesse de la Panouse, whose eccentric lifestyle gained her a certain level of notoriety in Paris in the late 19th century.
Literature
This item is mentioned in two historical documents: 1. The inventory of the Chateau d´Arnouville from 1794: "a small silver ship with all of its amenities, with a silver case in containing a pendulum clock and several porcelain figures, mounted on a gilt ormolu base.” (Archives departementales des Yvelines, IV Q 175). 2. In the will of Léonce de Vogüé dated 22nd October 1875. This lists "a small ship made from Saxon porcelain, silver and enamel mounted on bronze”, bequeathed from the estate of his father-in-law Eugène de Machault, to his daughter Angélique, Vicomtesse de la Panouse. (Pruchnicki, Un Domaine de Ministre au temps de Louis XV: Jean-Baptiste de Machault à Arnouville, mémoire École du Louvre 2009, S.138.) Cf. also Sorensen, Pour attirer plus de visiteurs au château de Thoiry, 1968, unpag.; Jagger, Clocks, London 1973, p. 38, no. 39; Pruchnicki, Arnouville, le château des Machault au XVIIIème siècle, Paris 2013, p. 4, 62 f.