POSSIBLY AUGSBURG OR ELLWANGEN, CIRCA 1750

Details

A RARE GERMAN ROCOCO GILT-METAL MOUNTED CARTOGRAPHICAL ENAMEL SNUFF-BOX
possibly Augsburg or Ellwangen, circa 1750
Rectangular white enamel on copper box, the slightly domed cover painted and gilt with a bird's eye view of Weissenau Abbey with the Relic of the Holy Blood in-between the spires, the four sides and base painted with a map of the surroundings including Ravensburg and Weingarten, the inside of the lid painted with an allegory of the triumph of the counter-reformation with St. Norbert trampling two Protestant Pastors, assisted by two monks and a priest, bright-cut gilt-metal mounts with slightly raised scrolling thumbpiece
3¼ in. (82 mm.) wide

Provenance

Ole Olsen; Winkel & Magnussen, Copenhagen, February 1944, lot 137.

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

The formerly powerful Premonstratensic Abbey of Weissenau was founded in 1145 and secularised in 1802. Possibly overshadowed by the splendid Benedictine Abbey of Weingarten, it is nowadays part of the city of Ravensburg, situated in Baden-Württemberg between Ulm and Friedrichshafen. Since 1892 it has been used as an asylum.

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