GENEVA, CIRCA 1800, MAKER'S MARK 'LFT', WITH PARTLY RUBBED PRESTIGE MARKS RESEMBLING THE PARIS DATE-LETTER 'K' AND A SMALL DISCHARGE MARK, THE ENAMEL PLAQUE BY ANTOINE CARTERET, SIGNED 'CARTERET PI' (LOWER LEFT)

Details

A SWISS ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
Geneva, circa 1800, maker's mark 'LFT', with partly rubbed prestige marks resembling the Paris date-letter 'K' and a small discharge mark, the enamel plaque by Antoine Carteret, signed 'Carteret pi' (lower left)
Flattened octagonal box, the lid inset with a rectangular enamel plaque finely painted with a scene depicting Diogenes on the market square of Athens, within a fluted gold band, the base enamelled in translucent dark blue on a guilloché ground, lid and base panels framed by sky blue and white enamel bands with taille d'épargne gold arched leaves, the sides re-painted in translucent dark blue on arched engine-turning, the four canted corners enamelled in sky blue and decorated in gold taille d'épargne
3½ in. (89 mm.) wide

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

Signed enamels by Antoine Carteret are of great rarity; a pair of portraits by his hand is in the Musée Bernadotte, Pau. According to E. Lemberger, Die Bildnis-Miniatur in Deutschland von 1550 bis 1850, Munich, 1909, p. 136, Carteret was praised by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as an excellent artist.
The scene is after Salvator Rosa's painting of Diogenes going about Athens with a lighted lantern in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man, but never finding one. This scene is rarely found on gold boxes; one was sold at Ball & Graupe, Berlin, 17 December 1927, lot 88, and another one at Christie's, Geneva, 19 November 1997, lot 229.

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