Hirado Porcelain and Japanese lacquer by Marchand-Mercier
A marchand-mercier is a French term for a type of entrepreneur working outside the guild system of craftsmen but carefully constrained by the regulations of acorporation under rules codified in 1613.[2] The reduplicative term literally means a merchant of merchandise, but in the 18th century took the connotation of a merchant ofobjets d’art. Earliest…