Exquisite & rare museum quality antique French Paul Sormani marked 14.25" jewelry casket, a veritable treasure chest with serpentine shaping, gorgeous kingwood & burled marquetry style inlays, royal crown topped monogram cartouche and opulently fitted interior with two Grand Tour style eglomise topped Paris souvenir scent or perfume bottles and four silk lined drawers! One of the finest boxes we've had in a while, this one really belongs in a museum somewhere. There are almost too many attributes to mention but, you know us, we'll try :) though the pictures really do tell all. Magnificent in every respect, you open the heavy domed lid to reveal the top layer which is completely covered in earthen toned velvet fittings to hold a variety of jewelry pieces. Two gorgeous eglomise perfume bottles nestled in the rear with reticulated gilt bronze or ormolu collars and bulbous lids framing the hand painted souvenir scenes. The lid itself lined with silk and framing a center miniature floral painting that would actually make one think the box was made by Tahan (given that we've only seen these floral medallions in Tahan pieces previously). The polished brass hardware all intact, the lock plates on the two front doors bearing the maker mark of Paul Sormani (Rue du Temple 114, Paris). Sormani being one of only a handful of the finest makers in France at the time, other notables being Tahan & Vervelle. The front cabinet style doors open to a stunningly inlaid array of different sized drawer fronts, even the inside of the doors themselves beautifully done and all having that interesting, unique addition of those green malachite looking inlays. Just in from France, when I opened it up there was the cabinet card photo in one of the drawers and I'll include it of course. No ID on who the sitter is but a label on the bottom of the chest appears to read "Mme de Penguilly". More research will have to be done on that though and I was in a hurry to get this one listed so will have to wait. An exquisite work, you won't want to pass this one by.
Excellent condition for age & materials. As you can see in the images, there are hardly any signs of age or flaws to note. Among the few are that two of the small black drawer pulls are missing. There is also a slight veneer lift area on the base of the box, near the rear left side bronze foot. Finally, the area right around the crown topped monogram on the lid is very slightly darker, possibly from years of polishing the cartouche itself. This one even has a working lock and what appears to be the original old steel skeleton key. Truly amazing. See images for all measurements.
