Rémond, Jean-George (1752-1830) - a jeweller, goldsmith, founder of the firm “Jean-Georges Rémond & Company”.

Born on July 27, 1752 in Hanau (Hanau) in the family of a goldsmith master Johannes Rémond. Jean-Georges received his primary education in his native town. Later, similar to many of his compatriots, he perfected his skills in the major European cities, such as Paris, Berlin or London. His works were in great demand and soon Jean-Georges became a participant of an elite group of European artists producing jewellery, clocks, musical and entertaining automata. At the age of thirty-one years, Jean-Georges Remond moved to Geneve and on December 22, 1783, Jean-Georges Raymond was officially admitted as goldsmith-jeweller after he submitted his oval gold snuffbox with painted enamel. The snuffbox was registered as a sample and received enthusiastic assessment "excellently made". At the same time, Raymond established a company “Georges Rémond & Cie” and registered his first identification hallmark. Jean-Georges Raymond produced snuffboxes with the mechanisms of Jacquet-Droz and Leschot, with Piguet and Meylan clocks, with Jean-Louis Richter and Jean-Abraham Lissignol enamels. The works of his workshop always aroused admiration by the magnificence of decor and the superior performance technology.

Jean-Georges Remond company jewellery and trade were widely spread and had good reputation. The company employed about one hundred people in 1806. In 1812, fifty employees were engaged in the workshop and twenty people worked at home.  The products were exhibited in Paris and London and were sold in Germany, Russia, Turkey, India and China. After 1820, Jean-Georges Remond lived in his hometown of Hanau in his own house on Römergasse. He died on February 11, 1830.

Gold snuffboxes produced by Jean-Georges Remond and his partners during the thirty-five year Genève’s period was a major asset. They were the first to use painted images on the polished base, fine work on gold foil, transparent enamel over guilloche, engraving and pearls’ hemming. His products, being genuine art pieces deservedly adorn relevant state-owned and private collections.

The museum Collection repository features around two dozen snuffboxes and caskets made by the ingenious artisan.

On the cover: Musical snuffbox. Rémond, Jean-George. Switzerland, Geneva. 1815-1820