Strasbourg | Jean Louis Imlin III
Louis XV | Ca. 1760
Silver | Fully marked
H. 4,5 cm. D. 4,5 cm. 45 gram
PROVENANCE
Anonymous sale | Sotheby’s | Geneva | 15 november 1995 | Lot 71
Private collection
REFERENCE LITERATURE
Haug, H. (1978). Orfèvrerie de Strasbourg, inventaire des collections publiques françaises. Paris, nr. 102-105, Table III
CATALOGUE NOTE
A silver ‘pomander‘ (sent box) or sponge box of this size was probably part of a travelling toilet set (nécessaire de voyage), together with its pendant, a spherical soap box. Similar boxes made by Parisian silversmiths have been recorded in literature. Sponge and soap boxes of a larger size (two to three times larger) often accompanied a silver shaving basin, which was placed on a toilet table. The decorative piercing on the sponge box had a practical purpose, allowing air to circulate to dry the damp sponge. The unpierced spherical box would be intended for keeping a piece of soap, which came in a ball shape, rather than a bar at that time.
Jean Louis (Johan Ludwig) Imlin III, was born into a distinguished family of silversmiths in Strasbourg. His grandfather Jean Louis (Johan Ludwig) Imlin I became a master of the Strasbourg guild in 1689, followed by his son Jean Louis(Johann Ludwig) Imlin II in 1720. Jean Louis (Johan Ludwig) Imlin III followed in their footsteps and became a master in 1746, active till his death in 1768. During the eighteenth century Strasbourg was an important centre for the production of silverware, focussing on German aristocrats and the clergy in Europe. After 1681 the demand for luxury goods in Strasbourg increased, due to the arrival of governors of the provinces, German princes with property in Alsace and the return of the catholic clergy.
Strasbourg silversmiths excelled in making beakers, cups, écuelles and travelling toilet services and were able to meet the increasing demand for silverware. They adopted the French (Parisian) style and did no longer turn to German examples from Augsburg or Nurnberg.
Jean Louis Imlin III, together with his father and several other silversmiths accepted the commission for an extended travelling toilet set for Marie Louise Albertine von Hessen- Darmstadt. This nécessaire de voyage consists of a silver-gilt toilet service in a fitted box. The items are dated 1749.