ANTIQUE SILVER AND CRYSTAL OIL AND VINEGAR CRUET, LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Antique chased silver oil and vinegar cruet in the Directoire/Consulat style. It features a rectangular tray edged with openwork lanceolate motifs, topped with claw feet surmounted by lion's heads. The shaft and bulb holders are richly decorated with caryatids, and the socket is adorned with fruit. Accompanied by two diamond-cut crystal cruets with pointed stoppers. Revolutionary hallmark "Tête de femme grecque" with the letter P (1793-1794), and A.M. goldsmith's hallmark for Ambroise Mignerot (practiced in Paris between 1800 and 1818). Paris hallmark "Moyenne garantie" (1809-1819) with a Minerva head facing right. Weight: 596 gr. Condition Very good condition, with a few stains on the crystal handles and stoppers and micro-scratches on the silver. Documentation This flatware oil-vinegar is unusual in that it has several hallmarks dating from the Revolutionary and First Empire periods. Indeed, silverware from the Empire, and even the Restoration, sometimes bears the hallmarks used during the Revolution. For example, the head of an old man, the rooster or, as in our case, the head of Minerva can be found on the same coin with the head of a Greek woman or the head of a bear. This can be explained by the abolition of precious metal controls (droits de marque and droits de surveillance) at the end of the 18th century. As the droit de surveillance ceased to exist in 1791, goldsmiths' objects hallmarked during the revolutionary period paid no tax, and had to be brought back to the mint later, to enable them to affix the title and guarantee marks used between 1798 and 1838. Bibliography: Serge Grandjean, "L'orfèvrerie du XIXe siècle en Europe", Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1962, pp. 140-143; Yves Markezana, "Les poinçons français d'or, d'argent, de platine de 1275 à nos jours", Éditions Vial, pp. 92-93. 18th century, Circa: 1794 Dim: W:21cm, D:11cm, H:33cm.