Live Auction 1009An Iberian Private Collection Part I: Important Gold Boxes & Objects of Vertu
A LOUIS XV GOLD-MOUNTED SHELL SNUFF-BOX
Lot 161

A LOUIS XV GOLD-MOUNTED SHELL SNUFF-BOX

BY PHILIPPE-EMMANUEL GARBE (FL. 1748-1762), MARKED, PARIS, 1761/1762, WITH THE CHARGE MARK OF ELOY BRICHARD 1756-1762 AND THE DISCHARGE MARK OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768

Closed8 December 2011

Price Realised

GBP 9,375

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A LOUIS XV GOLD-MOUNTED SHELL SNUFF-BOX
BY PHILIPPE-EMMANUEL GARBE (FL. 1748-1762), MARKED, PARIS, 1761/1762, WITH THE CHARGE MARK OF ELOY BRICHARD 1756-1762 AND THE DISCHARGE MARK OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768
irregular tapering box of aubergine-shape, made of the convex parts of one or two Oliva Porphyria shells, the outside with natural light-brown zig-zags and chevrons creating a mountainous design, the rear of the base part with spiralling tail, the polished gold mounts and raised thumbpiece on the hinged lid engraved with foliage
3 15/16 in. (100 mm.) wide

Christie's, London, 7 December 2004, lot 16.

Specialist note

This box is an interesting testimony to the conchyliomania during the 18th century. The period of its manufacture coincides with a particularly attractive period of trading in, and collecting of, shells during the reign of King Louis XV. In 1736, the famous marchand-mercier E.-F. Gersaint published a sale catalogue of a collection of shells he had acquired in the Netherlands. Other Olivia Porphyria boxes are illustrated in A. K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, Woodbridge, 1990, pl. 347 and 446.