  
  About the Artwork
  
  
  This elegant jewel coffer is mounted with thirteen plaques of soft-paste S&Atilde;&uml;vres porcelain, custom-shaped to fit the form and decorated with turquoise blue borders and sprigs of vibrant pink roses. S&Atilde;&uml;vres-mounted furniture came into fashion around 1760, at first as small, portable tables and later in more complex forms, including jewel coffers, secretaries, and commodes.
This is one of eight nearly identical jewel coffers made by cabinetmaker Martin Carlin during the 1760s and early 1770s. The innovative Parisian merchants and entrepreneurs Poirier and Daguerre in turn sold them to an elite clientele, including Madame du Barry and Queen Marie-Antoinette. This coffer belonged to Maria Feodorovna, wife of the future Czar Paul I; by 1795 it was in her apartments at Pavlovsk Palace, outside of Saint Petersburg.
  
  
  Title
  Jewel Coffer
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1774
  
  Artist
  Martin Carlin
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1730-1785
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  French
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oak carcass, veneered with tulipwood, holly, ebony, and amaranth, plaques of soft-paste porcelain, gilt-bronze mounts
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 37 3/8 &Atilde;&#151; 20 5/8 &Atilde;&#151; 13 5/8 in. (94.9 &Atilde;&#151; 52.4 &Atilde;&#151; 34.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Furniture
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Bequest of Mrs. Horace E. Dodge in memory of her husband
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum&acirc;&#128;&#153;s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems&acirc;&#128;&#148;no longer assigned&acirc;&#128;&#148;that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  71.196
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
  
  
  
