Antique Grand Tour Palais Royale musical necessaire
An exceptionally fine and large exhibition quality antique Grand Tour Palais Royale Tula Steel mounted musical necessaire with 18ct Gold Mounts.
From the very heart of the Royal Court of Paris
French
circa 1810
One of the finest complete Palais Royale objects in the world,
Bringing the Court to order, we present exhibit A...
When wound and start/stop button actuated, the music begins to play, with you being invited to open the main lid to access the complete and immaculate gold, Russian Tula Work Cut Steel and mother of pearl necessaire set, all reflected in looking glass lid interior.
With ultra-rare early chevron combed musical movement, with thin highly polished brass bedplate, stamped 48, two-piece comb bar and the 23-part sectional comb with teeth in groups of three, long pinning throughout the length of the cylinder, first generation Geneva stop-work with hairpin spring to female wheel, four-fin governor and polished steel pull-arm automatic stop.
Playing two very complex airs. The first comprising the original theme with melodic phrases consistent with the style of the intermediate period of W. A. Mozart. The second, with the original theme played as very paced and key changing scales to the quadrille template.
Beneath glass box cover with finely painted flower urn sur le-stande to top, flanked by triple looking glass panels edged with rope twist border, with the necessaire tray fitting beautifully over the top on stile brackets.
The implements comprising hem stay, brush, stitch pick, scissors, small folding blade, pencil holder with turned cap, needle holder, pin holder, large needle holder, thimble, large pair of circular squat jars with close fitting lids and a pair of bobbins, most with the Palais Royale gold and enamel pansy head rondo and gold marks to each part. Back inset compartment with central cut glass scent bottle and gold cap over stopper, solid gold scent funnel, pair of large fluted cut glass jars with gold lids, and winding key for musical movement. The gold elements in 18ct gold. All flanked by the pair of raised pin cushions each with incredible executed embroidery of roses, foxgloves and leaves on cream velvet ground, edged throughout with pink silk ribbon, original mercury-anodised looking glass fielding the entire lid interior.
In the elongated octagonal-form ebony case, with the lid inset with very large domed mother-of-pearl panel, carved and incised magnificently with five musicians performing on horn, lyre, voice, lute and lace dancer, upon tassel-edged carpet with music stand and flaming urn, bordered by sweeping rose trail and a pair of sphinxes, all against highly honed and polished ground revealing full depth of colour. This contrasts superbly with the jet black ebony case with the extremely rare Russian Tula Cut Steel Work which is superbly applied to all vertical surfaces of the case and also to the top edge surrounding the mother-of-pearl panel.
The Russian Tula work decoration with full geometrically cut, multi-faceted cut and polished steel studs of carefully placed sizes and shapes to achieve a wonderful three-dimensional effect with swags and fans galore, including lozenge and star form heads to top, top edge and to every one of the sides on the base. There is not one piece of Tula Work missing from this mint condition box and every piece of the Tula work is in mint condition too, as bright as the day they were cut and polished in the Tula factory in Central Russia.
There is an oval mother-of-pearl lid key escutcheon, an original lid key with twist stem, all raised up on eight polished ball feet, underside with green paper finish.
size
10in. wide, 5in. high, 8in. deep, 11in. high with lid open, the cylinder of musical movement 3in. wide - (25.5 x 12.5 x 20.5 x 28 x 7.5cm)
Point of Interest -
Palais Royale. Just the name conjures up an image of perfection. But there does, from time to time, appear one special object which is so magically powerful in both beauty and quality that seperates it from other known examples and attracts the international market, this is one such object.
Complete, music of the earliest pedigree and the eye consistently distracted both inside and out when examining the piece, this superb gem from Paris made at the very peak of the pure Golden Age of the Royal Court is a true masterpiece. The Russian Tula Cut Steel work is extremely rare and this is of the highest quality. Not only perfectly worked it is extremely rare to find such a complicated composition absolutely complete. Coupled with the mother-of-pearl to the lid top which is one of the largest single piece panels seen on any Palais Royale object to date. The colours breezing through, made possible by the cutting of the shell at a slight upwards angle for a greater diagonal to reveal the cross-section, making the actual shell up to half the size again before work commenced. Impressive raw material, saved no doubt for a special piece and worked on only once the best craftsmen were available to start the commission.
Locating a finer Palais Royale necessaire which is not in a noted international museum will be very hard work.
| STOCK No | 1525 |
| AVAILABILITY | Sold |
| PRICE | Sold |
75 Portobello Road London W11 2QB 0207 221 1121 07967 385258
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