CHARLES-MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD: A FRENCH GOLD KNIFE, FORK AND SPOON MARK OF MARTIN-GUILLAUME BIENNAIS, PARIS, 1819-1838

The fork and spoon with scroll palmettes, the reverse with a bull's head and winged caryatid, all against a matted ground, and engraved with a coat-of-arms within drapery mantling, the knife with steel blade stamped au singe VIOLET, the handle with palmettes and female heads and a coat-of-arms, against a matted ground, each marked on handle, also with post-1838 control mark, in a fitted leather case with tooled monogram beneath a Princely crown and retailer's stamp BIENNAIS ORFÈVRE RUE ST. HONORÉ NO. 283 AU SINGE VIOLET À PARIS
83⁄8 in. (21.3 cm.) long, the fork
10 oz. (315 gr.), the fork and spoon

Provenance
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838), 1st Prince of Benvento, Prince of Talleyrand.
The Collection of Felix Doistau; M. Lair Dubreuil et M.M. Paulme, Lasquin, Duchesne et Duplan, Pantin, Paris, 10 June 1909, lot 202.
M. Robert Linzeler (1872-1941), goldsmith, expert and antique dealer, Paris.
M. Saint; M. Etienne Ader, Hotel Drouot, Room 6, Paris, 15 May 1935, lot 70.
The Countess of Nalèche from 1935.
The Collection of Cornelius Ruxton Love Jr. (1904-1971) and Audrey B. Love (1903-2003), by 1958, when placed on loan with the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
The C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love Collection: Magnificent Silver-Gilt including Russian Works of Art and Objects of Vertu; Christie's, New York, 19 October 2004, lot 160.