BY GABRIEL-RAOUL MOREL (FL. 1797-1832), MARKED, WITH THE THIRD STANDARD AND EXCISE MARKS FOR GOLD PARIS 1819-1838, AND THE UNOFFICIAL PARISIAN POST-REVOLUTIONARY STANDARD MARK FOR 18-CARAT GOLD

The enamels on the lid and on the base are after paintings by Jean-Baptiste Greuze. The cover depicts L'Accordée de Village (now in the Louvre), exhibited by Greuze in 1761 under the title of Un Mariage, et l'instant où le père de l'Accordée délivre la dot à son gendre. The enamel on the base is after La lecture de la Bible, ou un père de famille expliquant la Bible à ses enfants (now Paris, private collection) which was exhibited by Greuze at the Salon in 1755 and proved so successful that Greuze was accepted as an agréé of the Académie Royale. The enamel on the left hand side panel is an inversed copy after Greuze's La vertu chancelante (now Munich, Alte Pinakothek). These paintings, typical for Greuze's choice of unjaded subject matters from a lost world of innocence and obedience, were extremely popular and are often seen as decoration on snuff-boxes.