Jean-Pierre Ador

Swiss goldsmith, jeweller. Born in the family of Jacques Ador and Marie Vallotton in the municipality of Vuiteboeuf in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland (1742). Worked as a goldsmith in Geneva and London (1750s). Moved to St Petersburg (1760), where he opened a workshop at 24 Bolshaya Morskaya Street (1764). Worked on such imperial commissions for Catherine the Great as a potpourri vase with classical creator (1768), Çesme snuff-box (1771) and snuff-box with a portrait of Catherine II as Minerva based on a commemorative medal by Johann Georg Wächter (1774). Married Andrienne Dumont (1782) and had a son called Jean (1782). Created the stars and crosses of the Order of St Vladimir (1783–84). Died in St Petersburg (1784). Contributed to exhibitions, including Three French Reigns (Louis XIV, XV & XVI): Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Royal Northern Hospital at 25 Park Lane in London (1933), Russian Art: Icons and Decorative Arts from the Origin to the Twentieth Century at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (1959–60), Russian Enamels at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (1996–97) and The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage at the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor (2003).