China, 18th century. Rare silver teapot, finely chased on an amatized ground with four scenes depicting animals or characters among birds and prunus branches. The handle (traces of soldering) imitates a branch. The lid features a swan-shaped grip. The shoulder is engraved with two marquisal coats of arms: those of the Izarn de Villefort family and those of the Billouart family. This is the alliance of François Joseph d'Izarn, Seigneur de Lestang 1609-1744, who married Marguerite Billouart de Kervazegan on August 26, 1718. It was probably a gift from a Siamese ambassador on this occasion. We can therefore date this teapot to the early 18th century. By family tradition, this teapot then belonged to the brother of Charles de Choiseul-Praslin (1805-1847). Height 16.5 cm. Weight: 552.8 g. Collection Particulière des frères. R. and by descent to the present owners. In the family since the late 19th century, Originally from a French commune in the department of Aveyron, in the Occitanie region, the R. brothers chose Bordeaux to live and work in commerce. It was around 1858, a time of expeditions when many European merchant ships were trying to establish themselves with difficulty in Cochinchina (the southern part of what was to become Indochina), that the three brothers attempted their adventure in the Far East. Young and in search of new discoveries, they decided to travel to the Far East via the Philippines, with the aim of reaching Saigon as soon as possible. They also visited Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tonkin. Their innate sense of commerce and taste for hard work, combined with a favorable historical context, led them to provide and organize supplies (food and clothing) for the occupation corps in Cochinchina and the expeditionary corps in China, and to develop trade in a number of areas, including sugar, wood, iron and copper smelting, and the exploitation of waterways for trade and tourism... They were the first non-owner Bordelais to settle in Cochinchina. They went back and forth to France, tired of the administrative constraints of the army, but never abandoned their commercial business. When the three brothers died, the son of one of them was called up in 1895 to settle in Haiphong in 1905, where he took over the family business linked to the subsidized river service in Lower Tonkin. The construction of longboats for transporting goods in the delta or for cruising in the Bay of Along continued successfully until 1921. During the First World War, Mr. R. was sent to France as part of the Franco-English mission to liaise between the two armies. The family business was managed by his attorney for four years before being transformed into a limited company, of which he remained vice-president for life. Mr. R. died in 1966, and the objects accumulated and collected during his travels have remained in the family ever since. The many journeys and exchanges made during the lives of the three R. brothers and Paul R. are reflected in the eclecticism of the "selected works" offered for sale by the collection's current owners. Porcelains, bronzes and display objects from China, Indochina, Southeast Asia and Japan are reminders of a bygone era.