BEARING MARKS RESEMBLING A PARIS DATE-LETTER 'K' FOR 1773/1774 AND THE CHARGE MARK OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768 AND RUBBED MAKER'S MARKS 'AB' WITH A TABLE BELL AS 'DIFFÉRENT' RESEMBLING THE MAKER'S MARK OF ANTOINE BÉNARD (FL. 1766-1790)

Details

A LOUIS XV-STYLE ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
bearing marks resembling a Paris date-letter 'K' for 1773/1774 and the charge mark of Jean-Jacques Prevost 1762-1768 and rubbed maker's marks 'AB' with a table bell as 'différent' resembling the maker's mark of Antoine Bénard (fl. 1766-1790)
Circular box, the hinged cover and base enamelled in translucent emerald green on husk and berry basse-taille engraved grounds divided by swirling rosettes and shell cartouches, the lid inset with a circular slightly concave enamel plaque depicting a seated Rococo lady holding a bundle of rods and teaching two children, within a gold ribbon-twist border, the base similarly centred by a matted gold roundel enamelled in translucent green over engraved radiating beams, the sides bordered by similarly enamelled lattice medallions and c-scrolls enclosing a band of identically enamelled long narrow flutes alternating with short broad flutes centred by gold rosettes, the four polished gold dividers applied with three-dimensional caryatid figures on socles cast and chased in gold, fluted gold rims
3 1/8 in. (80 mm.) diam.

Provenance

A. G. Hughes, Shrewsbury; his widow, Sotheby's, London, 19 June 1941, lot 42, as possibly by Antoine Boullier, Paris, ca. 1775 (£255 to Rozendaal).
Sir Charles Clore (1905-1979); Christie's, Geneva, 12 November 1985, lot 48, as 19th Century, with prestige marks.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A box with identical marks is at Waddesdon Manor, illustrated in S. Grandjean, K. Aschengreen Piacenti et al., The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor. Gold Boxes and Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century, London/Fribourg, 1975, p. 221, no. 102. For another box with identical marks, see Christie's, Geneva, 13 November 1984, lot 6.

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