Orfèvre Jouallier, Metteur en Oeuvre, Brillans

Unknown artist

These designs are from Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie in which many crafts are described and illustrated. Figure four is called an aigrette ou sultane in the inscription. Sultans in the Ottoman Empire gave this kind of ornament – with real or jewel feather plumes – as a mark of distinction. The term sultane in Figure four refers to the feathers at letter A.