Description
In a quiet atelier in the Marais, a calligrapher dips her pen in gilding and draws the same three-petaled lily on a wedding invitation for the hundredth time this spring. She never tires of it. The fleur-de-lys, she tells her apprentice, is like a good loaf of bread: simple, ancient, and somehow always new when it comes out right. The apprentice nods, smudges her first attempt, and starts again while the late sun turns the gold leaf on the desk to honey.
This box carries that timeless flourish in gold, its curling petals rising from a banded center. Being slim, it slides easily into a vitrine between taller pieces, or rests on a writing desk beside a fountain pen. Consider it for a Francophile, a New Orleans native, a bride who chose a royal French theme, or anyone named Lily, Louis or Lys.
About this piece
- Formed as a classic fleur-de-lys with elegantly curved petals
- Finished in rich golden tones
- About 1.75 inches across, 2.75 inches high and only half an inch deep
- Opens to keep a tiny ring or a pressed flower petal
- Hand-decorated in Limoges on French porcelain
- By Rochard
A small symbol with a very long memory, it brings regal polish to the smallest shelf. Choose it for a christening, a Saint Louis feast day or a housewarming in the French Quarter, and its gilded petals will carry a wish of grace and good fortune.
