Jean-Valentin Morel

He learned the lapidary craft from his father and apprenticed with goldsmith Adrien Vachette who worked in the production of gold boxes.

In 1842 he signed a contract with silver and goldsmith Henri Duponchel, establishing a craft shop called Morel & Cie which was highly successful and quickly gained an international reputation.

The business produced such items as ornamental vases, jewelry sets, table silverware, a missal binding for Pope Gregory XVI, a table service for the King of Sardinia and works for the future William III of the Netherlands, the future Alexander II of Russia and the French patron of the arts Duc de Luynes.

[5][6] In London, Morel located his business in New Burlington Street near the Piccadilly firms of Garrard and Storr & Mortimer, but he found it difficult to establish an English clientele.

[7] He made a bloodstone jasper cup for English collector Henry Thomas Hope, with which he won the gold medal the Exposition Universelle (1855).