An Important Collection of Instruments by
Charrière, their Successors, and Other Makers
Joseph-Frédéric Charrière (1803-76) was one of the most remarkable medical instrument makers of the 19th century. In a period of rapid advance in the field of medicine, due, particularly to the development of anaesthesia, haemostasis and antisepsis, he was able to create instruments of the finest quality to satisfy the demands of the new knowledge and techniques. As with any great instrument maker, he was more than simply a technician, executing the designs of others: in the field of lithotrity, for example, he worked with surgeons such as Civiale, Leroy d'Etoiles and Ségalas to produce innovative instruments (cf. lots 32-34). His instruments gained worldwide recognition, and many medals at international exhibitions: after the Universal Exhibition in London in 1851, he was made an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur. Baron Charles Dupin, quoted in Charrière's 1862 catalogue, noted that: "Un artiste a commencé par être petit ouvrier en métaux; il a, par degrés, appris à façonner, à composer les instruments les plus délicats de la chirurgerie; il est devenu l'élève, l'auxillaire, disons mieux, le coopérateur de nos plus illustres chirurgiens. Cet artiste, apprécié par le jury spécial de chirurgie à l'Exposition universelle, s'est vu placer, de prime abord et d'une voix unanime, au premier rang dans son art ... il sera le premier des industriels créé par vous officier de la Légion d'Honneur" (pp. XIII-XIV).
This appreciation of Charrière's abilities has remained to the present day: in his Medicine and its Technology (Connecticut, 1981) Aubrey B. Davis comments that, "The most outstanding of all these firms [of surgical instrument makers] was the one founded in 1820 by M. F. Charrière, which continued to manufacture instruments until 1930. Charrière, who made the most beautiful and precise medical and surgical instruments, traveled to England in 1836 to study British techniques ... Upon mastering the manufacturing techniques associated with surgical instruments, Charrière studied the manual dexterity of surgeons to produce instruments which could be used with greater ease and convenience".
After the sudden death of Charrière's son Jules in 1866, the business was taken over by Adolphe Collin and Robert, two of Charrière's co-workers, who published their first catalogue in 1867 (lot 5). Robert then left the company, and it continued as Collin & Cie until 1930, when it became part of Gentile.
An exhibition-standard 19th-Century nickel-plated dental drill,
细节
An exhibition-standard 19th-Century nickel-plated dental drill,
signed CHARRIERE, the mother-of-pearl handle attached with a gilt ferrule, the blued-steel mechanism rotatable 270° around the axis, the crank with mother-of-pearl handle, the drill bit angled upwards -- 8in. (20cm.) long
See Front Cover
signed CHARRIERE, the mother-of-pearl handle attached with a gilt ferrule, the blued-steel mechanism rotatable 270° around the axis, the crank with mother-of-pearl handle, the drill bit angled upwards -- 8in. (20cm.) long
See Front Cover