Please help me to identify French maker's mark

[Silvestre]

Hello everyone. My name is Silvestre, from Brazil. It's my first time here.
Could you please help me identifying the silvermaker and any other info you might have about this french coffepot?
Thank you all in advance.

[JayT]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
Your coffee pot in the Neoclassical style was made in Paris of 950 standard silver as seen by the silver standard mark of a walking cock in an octagonal reserve with a border, and the guarantee mark of a Minerva head facing right in a circular reserve. These marks were in use 1809-1819.
The maker was J.A. Berel, hollowware maker, working at 24 rue des Fossés-St-Germain. He registered his mark 1810-1811. No end date is given, but there is mention of him in the Almanach Azur until 1822. Berel was the successor of Marie-Joseph-Gabriel Genu’s widow, working at the same address until 1811.

See Arminjon, v. 1, no. 01503, p. 171, and no. 02652, p. 267.

Marie-Joseph-Gabriel Genu descended from a long line of silversmiths, going back to Claude Genu (registered 1715), Jean-François Genu (1754) and Jean-Claude Genu (1766), who eventually established himself in Saint Petersburg in 1785. His son, Marie-Joseph-Gabriel had been a well-known maker of quality silver (la belle argenterie) in pre-Revolutionary times. He registered his mark on 31 December 1788, and is listed as active until 1806.

See Nocq, v. II, p. 232-233.

Regards.

[Silvestre]

Wow, you guy know your stuff.

Thank you so much for supplying the information. That's very kind of you.
Best regards.

[JayT]

My pleasure to help. Enjoy your coffee pot! It is from a fine workshop.
As another fun fact, MJG Genu was a supplier to Martin-Guillaume Biennais, Napoleon’s silversmith.

[blakstone]

I found only two contemporaneous civil records mentioning J.A. Berel - as a declarant at his brother's marriage in 1803 and his mother's death in 1819 - but they did offer some interesting information. His full name was Jean Auguste Berel, and he was born in Paris around 1781, the son of Marin Jacques Berel and Anne Madeleine Genu (1753-1819). His mother was the daughter of Jean François Genu and sister of Marie Joseph Gabriel Genu (ca. 1763-1810), two Genu silversmiths mentioned by JayT.

As Berel's father Marin Jacques Berel, uncle Jacques Berel (1753-1837) and brother Jean Jacques Marie Berel (1778-1852) were all tailors or haberdashers, it likely then that younger brother Jean Auguste was selected to follow his uncle Marie Joseph Gabriel Genu as a silversmith; he is listed as "Berel neveu" under silversmiths in the 1817 Paris Directory.

It is worth noting that uncle Jacques Berel also married a Genu - Marie Marguerite Genu, daughter of silversmith Jean Claude Genu and Marie Françoise Bouchard - so the Berel and Genu families were evidently well-connected.

[Silvestre]

Hi blakstone.
Thanks a lot for your work. It was awesome and I am indebted to you.

Last but not least: I’ve a very similar coffee pot made by another silversmith. In your opinion should I open a new post or may upload the photos here?

Thank you in advance.

[oel]

Hi, please start a new topic.

Peter.