Antique c.1908 Hand Embroidery & Bullion Trim Chocolates Box, Chocolatier Marquise de Sevigne, PARIS
Who can not be fascinated by French chocolate and the history of chocolatiers and confiseurs, the elaborate boxes made as presentations for their confections? I have long collected French confectioners boxes. They've ranged between something simple like this silk embroidered silk and passementerie larger ones, to c.1700s tiny ones, to elaborate and stunning works in tortoise shell - up into the $3k and higher ranges for some. Several of our Boissier Chocolatier boxes (one of the most famous of France and 200 years' history, still in production) have gone directly to the Boissier Museum in Paris. It's been fun. This one is also an antique box for a company still doing business in Paris - the French traditions are all tradition and excellence, after all. The company is named after a figure of history, "Marquise de Sevigne Chocolat de Royat". I've done a panel showing their c.1898 location and also one of their locations in Paris today. This larger box illustrates the history of chocolat