Maison AUCOC

Here is one of the oldest firms on rue de la Paix. From 1835, Casimir Aucoc Aîné, patented by the King, established at rue Saint Honoré, 154, where he mainly manufactured the necessities, moved to rue de la Paix at n ° 6 and added goldsmithing to his specialty. In his turn, Louis Aucoc elder succeeded him in 1854 and a little later added jewelry and jewelry to its manufacture.

André Aucoc, the third of this generation, very enamored of the 18th century, oriented his models towards the reconstruction of the great Masters of the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Napoleon I.

Sometimes from engravings by Bérain, Lepautre, Ballin, Meissonnier, Germain, Roettiers, Odiot, Thomire, sometimes from originals gathered in his magnificent private collection, sometimes again from drawings executed in his workshops and directly inspired by the Masters, he unearthed from 1884 to 1911 soup tureens, covered dishes, candelabras, above all, toilet services, which, by their impeccable execution, can replace, even in the eyes of connoisseurs, the old pieces that have become almost impossible to find after the Saint-Barthélemy of gold and silver tableware ordered by Louis XIV in 1688 and the patriotic fonts of the Revolution.

Much more – and this is a rare merit – all these reconstructions these style compositions have “emphasis”. They smell neither of copy nor of pastiche, perhaps because André Aucoc never gave up the hammer for the more expeditious processes of casting and stamping, much less for the processes.