A LOUIS XV FOUR-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX, BY CHARLES LE BASTIER, PARIS, 1757-1758

Rectangular chased on all sides with alternating polished gold and reeded stripes, each panel centred by a bucolic scene: on the cover a couple of peacocks and a cockerel pecking at fruits in garden landscape, on the front panel, two chickens eating some grains, on the underside two rabbits grazing in a garden near baskets, on the back a view of a village, and on each side: flowers, marked in cover and base: charge, date-letter (R) and maker; on flange: décharge and Austro-Hungarian control mark for Graz in use from 1807 to 1866
3¹⁄₈ in. (8 cm.) long
6 oz. 11 dwt. (205 gr.)

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Lot Essay

This snuff-box is early for Charles Le Bastier who registered his mark in 1754 sponsored by Jean Moynat. He worked for Garand and Grancher of the Petit Dunkerque and established his own shop on rue Thévenot where he worked until his death in 1783.
Charles Le Bastier was one of the most important gold box makers in the Louis XV and XVI period ranking 9th in the taxation of 1774 (Henry Nocq, Le Poinçon de Paris, vol. III, p. 77 and 78). The international appeal of Le Bastier's work is confirmed by his trade card printed in both French and English with the words 'Le Bastier 'Makes and Sells Alls [sic] sorts of Golden Boxes and others - toys in the Newest fashion' (H. and S. Berry-Hill, Antique Gold Boxes: Their Lore and Their Lure, London, 1960, p. 202).
The present four-colour gold snuff-box exemplifies both the superb craftsmanship of Le Bastier's works and the growing fashion for pastoral scenes loosely inspired by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755).