BY JOSEF WOLFFGANG SCHMIDT (FL. 1769-1836), MARKED, VIENNA, CIRCA 1810

Details

AN AUSTRIAN ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
BY JOSEF WOLFFGANG SCHMIDT (FL. 1769-1836), MARKED, VIENNA, CIRCA 1810

oval box with wavy flange, the cover set with an enamel painting depicting fishing boats in a harbour scene, with a city and mountains beyond, within an opaque purple enamel taille d’épargne foliate border, the sides and base with panels of translucent red enamel over an engine-turned ground, the sides hung with taille d’épargne gold floral garlands between opaque green enamel oval shields, the base centred with a gold floral spray, all within white and blue enamel frames, fitted red leather case
3 1/8 in. (80 mm.) wide

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Lot Essay

Joseph Wolfgang Schmidt is recorded in Vienna 1769-1836. During the period 1801-11 he is recorded at Kohlmarkt 1218, and listed as a Galanteriearbeiter 1802-36. A gold and enamel snuff-box with paillon decoration and a central plaque depicting a Sacrifice to Venus by this rare Viennese goldsmith 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, Christie's, London, 10 December 2002, lot 62, Christie's, London, 10 November 2010, lot 434 and Christie's, London, 2 June 2015, lot 218.

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