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Dinner plate
Edme-Pierre Balzac (Born 1705, master 1739; died about 1786)
France (Paris)
1770–71
Object Place: Europe, Paris, France
Medium/Technique
Metal; silver
Dimensions
Diameter: 26.6cm (10 1/2in.)
Credit Line
Elizabeth Parke Firestone and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. Collection
Accession Number1993.471.4
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSilver
DescriptionOne from a set of twenty-four shaped circular dinner plates, with molded laurel rims. Engraved with a double headed eagle with a crown, a shield, an orb, and a scepter(?), the Russian Imperial arms.
InscriptionsMaker's mark incomplete, probably that of Balzac. Warden's mark: 1770-1771: a crowned G, partly obscured (Dennis, 35). Charge Mark: for large work 1768-1775: a crowned A, partly obscured (Dennis, 37). Discharge Mark: for work intended for export 1733(?)-1775: a little cow (Dennis, 14). Other: a small rectangle; St. Petersburg marks "Beschauzelchen etwa" 1784 (Rosenberg 8143); HM a grainbetween, in a rectangle; Russian standard mark: a 91 in a rectangle (Tardy, p . 265); Countermark used after 1838: parts of insects (Rosenberg 5929); a small oval, possibly with an LHF and a mark, perhaps a question mark in the center.
Provenance1770, part of Orloff Service ordered by Empress Catherine the Great; 1928, purhased by Jacques Helft directly from Soviet Government (850 pieces). 1932, Comte Horodiski. 1952, Bertha Wallace, Paris. Elizabeth Parke Firestone (b. 1897 - d. 1990) and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. (b. 1898 - d. 1973), Akron, OH and Newport, RI; 1993; gift of the estate of Elizabeth Parke Firestone and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 26, 1993)