BRUNIER DE LARNAGE OF DAUPHINÉ
A LATE 19TH CENTURY CIRCA 1875 PARCEL-GILT DESK SEAL
Estimate: £300 - £500
Auction: 17 September 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
maker's mark Froment-Meurice, Paris with boar's head control mark, modelled as a turret, engraved coat of arms and supporters below a Marquis's coronet
Dimensions
2.2cm high, 2.5cm (diameter of matrix)
Provenance
The Matrix Collection
Footnote
The arms are those of Brunier de Larnage of Dauphiné. This was an ancient and illustrious military family, whose origins date back to the early Middle Ages and whose arms appeared in the Salle des Croisades at Versailles. Jacques Brunier who died in 1348 was Chancellor of Humbert II while his brother Guillame fought at battle Crécy in 1346.
The last recorder Marquis de Larnage. for whom presumably this seal was made was César-Charles-Adrien de Brunier d'Adhemar de Monteil, born 15 October 1836 at the Chateau de Méré, Artannes, Indre et Loire, son of Francois-Dominique-Adhémar de Monteil and his wife Claire-Rose Landriève de Bordes.
Francois-Désiré Froment Meurice died in 1855 a few months before the opening of the Paris Exposition Universelle. His widow ensured that he kept his shop in Paris alive until their son was able to take over the reigns, by employing some of the greatest craftsmen in Paris a tradition which their son kept alive and were able to supply to Napoleon III and the duc d'Amale at Chantilly.