MARK OF JOSEF WOLFFGANG SCHMIDT, VIENNA, CIRCA 1790

Details

AN AUSTRIAN GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF-BOX
MARK OF JOSEF WOLFFGANG SCHMIDT, VIENNA, CIRCA 1790
Oval, the hinged cover set with an oval enamelled plaque painted on gold of young lovers wrapping a festoon of flowers around an altar of Love, set on a field of blue enamel heightened with gilt paillons, swags and foliage, the sides and base similarly decorated, marked inside and on cover
2¾ in. (70 mm.) wide

Provenance

Henry and Sideny Berry-Hill, New York.
Sotheby's, London, 18 June 1979, lot 55.

Literature

H. and S. Berry-Hill, Antique Gold Boxes, New York, 1960, p. 164, illustrated pl. 158, opp. p. 165 (as Swiss, Vevey town mark, circa 1790, maker I.W.S.).

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 very similar gold and enamel snuff-box with paillon decoration and central plaque depicting a Sacrifice to Venus by this rare Viennese goldsmith (fl. 1770-1813) is in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in C. Le Corbeiller, European and American Snuff Boxes 1730-1830, London, 1966, no. 240. A jasper snuff-box with applied gold decoration and paste thumbpiece also with his maker's mark I.W.S., 1774, is illustrated op. cit., no. 458. Other boxes by his hand were sold Christie's, Geneva, 15 November 1994, lot 32, and Christie's, London, 10 December 2002, lot 62.

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