A princely snuffbox for Versailles

28/1/26 - Acquisition - Versailles, Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon - It is a very small object — naturally intended to fit in the hand — that the Société des Amis de Versailles has just donated to the museum and, above all, brought back to France, since Madame Adélaïde’s snuffbox (ill. 1) was the highlight lot of the “500 Years of European Ceramics” sale organised by Bonhams in London on 2 December 2025. Estimated at £80,000–£120,000, the object sold for £190,900 with fees — a considerable sum, certainly, but not unreasonable for such a treasure, moreover with a rather prestigious provenance.

At first glance, one immediately recognises the famous “beau bleu” ground of the Manufacture Royale de Sèvres, a colour developed in 1778 — based on cobalt oxide fired at high temperature — which perfectly complements the chiselled and engraved gold mount by Ouizille and Drais (ill. 2). Thanks to the archives of Sèvres, both the production and delivery of this object are very well documented, and it proudly bears the signatures of the two goldsmiths, to whom we refer our readers via Vincent Bastien’s scholarly study — published in the penultimate issue of Versalia — which analyses the careers of these great names in eighteenth-century French jewellery. There we learn that Charles Ouizille (1744–1830) took over, on 29 April 1783, the business of Pierre-François Drais (1726–1792), although Drais remained entitled to profits for three years. As the author notes: «When one admires today one of the prodigious pieces bearing the mark or signature of Drais and…