FREITAG, 30. JANUAR 2026 
This Week in La Gazette Drouot : The Apogee of 18th-Century Breton Goldsmiths
T hese highly refined sugar casters made in Rennes bear witness to the excellence achieved by French silversmiths at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Very rare on the market, these types of objects are even rarer in pairs, as we have here.
By Christophe Provot
At the end of Louis XIV 's reign, domestic silverware production gradually resumed after some twenty royal edicts on luxury goods were lifted. While most pieces from the period were defined by a quest for elegance, achieved through discreet decoration, some were exceptional. This pair of sugar casters is a perfect illustration. Their baluster shape, classic for this type of object, is magnified by a skilful decorative repertoire, from the pedestal carved with gadroons echoing those on the lid, itself topped with a spindle knob on a platform of leaves. The body is embossed with appliqués on an amati background—three alternating patterns: lanceolate leaves, fleurons, and lambrequins—up to the middle section, which is highlighted by a row of ribbing. Above are coats of arms under a count's crown, while the upper edge is engraved with rosettes interspersed between reeds, highlighted with pompons. The dome, through which the sugar flows, is pierced with diamond-shaped panels framing quatrefoil crosses, alternating with bands of interlaced reeds.
Both pieces bear the hallmark of Jean Roysard, received as master goldsmith in 1709. Little is known about this craftsman, except that he belonged to a Rennes dynasty. A few of his creations are preserved in churches in Haute-Bretagne, and his pieces of domestic silvermithery are rare. One example is a silver goblet, made between 1728 and 1731 and bearing the coat of arms of Gabriel Julien de La Forest d'Armaillé (1764-1833), a member of Brittany's parliament, sold at Sotheby's London in 2014.
Read the full version of A Rare Pair of Silver Sugar Casters from Rennes: The Apogee of 18th-Century Breton Goldsmiths in La Gazette Drouot
At the end of Louis XIV 's reign, domestic silverware production gradually resumed after some twenty royal edicts on luxury goods were lifted. While most pieces from the period were defined by a quest for elegance, achieved through discreet decoration, some were exceptional. This pair of sugar casters is a perfect illustration. Their baluster shape, classic for this type of object, is magnified by a skilful decorative repertoire, from the pedestal carved with gadroons echoing those on the lid, itself topped with a spindle knob on a platform of leaves. The body is embossed with appliqués on an amati background—three alternating patterns: lanceolate leaves, fleurons, and lambrequins—up to the middle section, which is highlighted by a row of ribbing. Above are coats of arms under a count's crown, while the upper edge is engraved with rosettes interspersed between reeds, highlighted with pompons. The dome, through which the sugar flows, is pierced with diamond-shaped panels framing quatrefoil crosses, alternating with bands of interlaced reeds.
Both pieces bear the hallmark of Jean Roysard, received as master goldsmith in 1709. Little is known about this craftsman, except that he belonged to a Rennes dynasty. A few of his creations are preserved in churches in Haute-Bretagne, and his pieces of domestic silvermithery are rare. One example is a silver goblet, made between 1728 and 1731 and bearing the coat of arms of Gabriel Julien de La Forest d'Armaillé (1764-1833), a member of Brittany's parliament, sold at Sotheby's London in 2014.
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