A RARE JAMES II SILVER-GILT SNUFF BOX
A RARE JAMES II SILVER-GILT SNUFF BOX

LONDON, CIRCA 1685, MAKER'S MARK EB?

Details
A RARE JAMES II SILVER-GILT SNUFF BOX
London, circa 1685, Maker's Mark EB?
Elongated octagonal, the hinged cover with cast relief panel of Chinese figures and trees, the sides also with relief panels of Chinoiserie, marked with maker's mark inside of base
2 in. (6.4 cm.) long
Provenance
with S.J. Shrubsole

Lot Essay

A closely related Chinoiserie box made circa 1685 and marked PD crowned is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum and illustrated in Charles Oman, English Silversmiths' Work, Civil and Domestic, London, 1965, figs. 90a and 90b.

This type of cast relief decoration is found on both Chinese export silver of the 17th century and English-made silver of the same period. A teapot with London hallmarks for 1682 now at the Peabody Museum has been firmly identified as of Chinese origin (sold at Christie's, New York, April 18, 1989, lot 589). The present snuffbox, the V&A example, and a set of three panelled bowls by David Willaume of 1711 all appear to have been made in London, perhaps in competition with the imports from China or simply inspired by published design sources, such as the engravings by de Moelder of 1694 showing similar panels of relief decoration. (For further discussion of this group, see H. A. Crosby Forbes et al., Chinese Export Silver, 1975, pp. 51-54, and Philippa Glanville, Silver in England, 1987, pp. 233-236.)