The collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French silver at the J. Paul Getty Museum is of exceptional quality and state of preservation. Each piece is remarkable for its beauty, inventive form, skillful execution, illustrious provenance, and the renown of its maker. This volume is the first complete study of these exquisite objects, with more than 250 color photographs bringing into focus extraordinary details such as minuscule makers’ marks, inscriptions, and heraldic armorials. The publication details the formation of the Museum’s collection of French silver, several pieces of which were selected by J. Paul Getty himself, and discusses the regulations of the historic Parisian guild of gold- and silversmiths that set quality controls and consumer protections. Comprehensive entries catalogue a total of thirty-three pieces with descriptions, provenance, exhibition history, and technical information. The related commentaries shed light on the function of these objects and the roles they played in the daily lives of their prosperous owners. The book also includes maker biographies and a full bibliography.

• Foreword, Timothy Potts
• Acknowledgments, Charissa Bremer-David
• Introduction: J. Paul Getty as a Silver Collector and the Formation of the Museum’s French Silver Collection
• Note to the Reader I: Stamps and Marks
• Note to the Reader II: Historic Units of Measure and Currency
• Catalogue
  • 1. Water Fountain (Fontaine), transformed from a Water Flagon (Buire), with Technical Summary by Jessica Chasen, Jessica Chasen
  • 2. Lidded Bowl (Écuelle couverte)
  • 3. Pair of Tureens, Liners, and Stands (Paire de terrines, doublures et plateaux)
  • 4. Pair of Decorative Bronzes: Sugar Casters in the Form of Cane Field Laborers (Sucriers à poudre en forme d’ouvriers des champs de canne)
  • 5. Two Sugar Casters (Deux sucriers à poudre)
  • 6. Pair of Lidded Tureens, Liners, and Stands (Paire de pots à oille couverts, doublures et plateaux)
  • 7. Tray for Lidded Beakers (Gantière pour gobelets couverts)
  • 8. La Machine d’Argent, or Centerpiece for a Table (Surtout de table)
  • 9. Sauceboat on Stand (Saucière sur support)
  • 10. Two Girandoles (Deux girandoles)
• Maker Biographies
• Appendix: Silver Alloy Analysis by X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Jessica Chasen, Arlen Heginbotham, and Julie Wolfe
• Bibliography
• About the Authors

Charissa Bremer-David is an object-based art historian specializing in early modern European decorative arts. She has worked with the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum for many years, serving as curator of sculpture and decorative arts from 2008 to her retirement in 2020. She curated several exhibitions, notably Woven Gold, Tapestries of Louis XIV (2015) and Paris: Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century (2011) and edited their accompanying catalogues and has published extensively on French tapestries. Her research interests span material culture, East-West trade, provenance, the development of the trans-Atlantic art market, and the birth of American art museums at the turn of the twentieth century.

Jessica Chasen is an associate objects conservator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Previously, she was an assistant conservator in Decorative Arts and Sculpture Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum and in Science at the Getty Conservation Institute.

Arlen Heginbotham is conservator of decorative arts and sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Julie Wolfe is conservator of decorative arts and sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum.