| Description
This unusual snuffbox is designed to take three different types
of snuff. It was made in Meissen, Germany, from hard paste porcelain
and is painted in enamels.
The gold mounts appear to be original and were probably made by
a Dresden goldsmith.
The cover of the box is divided in half
and decorated with Mars and Minerva in wooded landscapes within
a Rococo cartouche of pink
and yellow on a blue osier background. The base, interior and walls
are painted in a similar style, each illustration - Leda and the
swan, Venus and Cupid, Diana the Huntress, and Venus borne along
by dolphins - drawing on a romantic theme from Greek or Roman mythology
The interior of the lid is painted with
the portraits of Carl Theodore, the Elector Palatine, in armour,
wearing the sash of the Order of St Hubert, and his wife Elisabeth
Auguste. These are attributed to Johann Heinrici, who was employed
at the Meissen factory at this time.
Commentary
Snuffboxes designed to take two or, as in this case, three different
types of snuff were produced mainly as novelty items and were more
common in Germany and Britain than in the rest of Europe. This box,
together with an almost identical box in the Wallach Collection,
might well have been intended as gifts from the Elector and his
wife, or possibly, given the amorous nature of the painted subjects,
as gifts to each other.
Glossaries
porcelain - a hard, translucent
ceramic material
enamel - an exacting painting process using coloured
powdered glass, where each colour is applied separately then heated
in a kiln to fuse it to the surface before the next
cartouche - an ornamental panel in the shape of
curled paper or parchment scrolls
back to the
collection
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Porcelain snuffbox with three compartments,
made in Meissen around 1750. |
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the
Gilbert silver