CIRCA 1745

The 'C couronné poinçon' was a tax mark used in France between March 1745 and February 1749 on any alloy containing copper.

Numerous references are made to figural chenets in the chinoiserie taste in the mid-18th Century. A consignment of furniture sent to M. le comte de Woronzow, Vice Chancelier de S.M.I. de Russie in 1758, for example, included: 'un feu représentant de grand chinois avec ornemans de bronze ciselé et doré d'or moulu...760 l' .The Livre Journal of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux lists the purchases of Mme la Marquise de la Ferrière on 23 August 1756, which included 'Un petit feu doré composé de figures Chinoises avec ses garniture de pelles et pincettes, 120L', which may refer to chenets of this model. A pair of chenets of virtually identical design was sold from the collection of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 5 May 1984, lot 145 ($ 11,000), and is discussed in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, vol II, p. 373. Another pair was sold at Christie's, London, 22 May 2019, lot 202 ($31,725).