Title
Box commemorating the second manned flight in a hot-air balloon
Caption
Compigné
Box commemorating the second manned flight in a hot-air balloon : 1st December 1783, Charles and Robert's balloon takeoff from the Tuileries
Ivory and brown casing, small painting on tin retouched with gouache and coloured varnish (diameter 8.3 cm)
Muller-Quênot Collection
Info+
Compigné was a famous 18th century craftsman known as a "tabletier." From around 1760 he owned a shop in rue Grenets, Paris under the name "Roi David." The shop was renowned for its quality, and thanks to it's advertising became specialised in the manufacture of boxes, snuff boxes and famous for a specific pattern style, which remains under the same name. In addition, the shop also specialised in small hanging pictures and pictures that could be inserted into the lids of the boxes (known as compignés), where the design was printed on a lightly raised tin plaque, later retouched with a thin film of gold and silver and enhanced with gouache and coloured varnish. These works generally depicted landscapes, town views, châteaux, architectural perspectives, etc... often enlivened with small characters. They were therefore quite rare and particularly fragile.
The compigné inserted in the lid of this box shows Charles and Robert's flight over the château des Tuileries on 1st December 1783. It bears the balloon compigné created in the 18th century.
Date
18th century
Credit line
Photo12/Association Muller Quenot Rosheim
Reference
MQR10A00_268
License type
Rights managed
Available size
37,8Mb (1,5Mb) / 12,6in x 11,7in / 3780 x 3496 (300dpi)