Please help me identify silversmith of the cruet

[elcid51]

Please help me identify parisian silversmith F F (1798-1809) of the cruet. Thanks, Guido

[JayT]

Hello Guido
Your cruet stand was made by François Froment, symbol an ear of wheat in a crescent (un épi de blé dans un croissant). No address is given. Froment, a wholesaler, registered in 1801, erased 30 September 1806 upon his death. Therefore, you have quite a precise date range for your object.

His successor was Pierre-Jacques Meurice, using the same symbol. Meurice registered in 1806, again in 1812-1813, and was mentioned in the Almanach Azur until 1822. In 1806 he was working at 12 cloître Notre-Dame, so perhaps this address had been Froment’s place of business.

See Arminjon, v. I, no. 0117, p. 139; and no. 03032, p. 299.

Regards

[elcid51]

Thank you Jay T,
you are always very kind and very competent.
Thank you so much again,
Guido

[JayT]

My pleasure Guido.
It occurs to me that the maker’s name Froment means wheat in French, so his symbol was a good mnemonic device.
Regards

[elcid51]

Hello JayT,
after what you told me I did a search among my objects and I found a cruet by Pierre-Jacques Meurice the symbol is almost the same as that of François Meurice they differ only for the "2 grains of remedy" also I found that M .me Françoise Giroux was a widow from 1803 because in second marriage she married Pierre-Jacques Meurice in 1804.
If the above is true, why was Françoise Meurice's mark canceled in 1806 when that of Pierre-Jacques Meurice was registered?
What do you think about it?
Thanks again for everything,
greetings Guido
see photos

[elcid51]

Hello JayT,
after what you told me I did a search among my objects and I found a cruet by Pierre-Jacques Meurice the symbol is almost the same as that of François Froment they differ only for the "2 grains of remedy" also I found that M .me Françoise Giroux was a widow from 1803 because in second marriage she married Pierre-Jacques Meurice in 1804.
If the above is true, why was Françoise Froment mark canceled in 1806 when that of Pierre-Jacques Meurice was registered?
What do you think about it?
Thanks again for everything,
greetings Guido
see photos

[JayT]

Hello again Guido
How nice that you have objects by both Froment and his successor, Meurice. The symbols are very similar because it was customary for a successor to use the same symbol as the workshop he took over as a sign to clients of continuity and respect.
I don’t know why Froment’s mark was cancelled only in 1806 if he died in 1803. I assume his widow continued the business until she married Meurice, who registered his mark in 1806 when Froment’s was cancelled. I don’t see anything suspect or unusual in this.
It is very interesting to note that Froment’s son, François-Désiré took the name of his father and step-father to become F-D Froment-Meurice, one of the greatest French silversmiths of the 19th C. He began his career under the reign of Louis-Philippe, and continued under Napoléon III. Froment-Meurice worked in the Romantic style of the mid-19thC, which combined elements of neo-Gothic and neo-Renaissance design. François-Désiré’s son, Émile took over the business in 1866, and had many prestigious commissions. The company continued until the 1930’s, always using an ear of wheat as a symbol.
Therefore you have objects from the very beginning of this silversmithing dynasty.

[elcid51]

Hi JayT,
I only have an object by FD Froment (-Meurice) but the mark does not have un épi de blé because I think it was made by him when he had not yet taken on the name of his stepfather Meurice only in 1838 or it should have been done before 1838, what do you think?
Thanks always, greetings,
Guido
see photos