A QUEEN ANNE GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF-BOX

LONDON, CIRCA 1710, THE ENAMEL PANELS BLOIS SCHOOL, CIRCA 1660

Details

A QUEEN ANNE GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF-BOX
LONDON, CIRCA 1710, THE ENAMEL PANELS BLOIS SCHOOL, CIRCA 1660
oval box with slightly concave cover and base, the painted enamel cover depicting Venus and Adonis with Cupid, the base depicting the same subject with the addition of a small dog, the interior of the box with figures and hamlets beside river landscapes, with polished gold sides and reeded gold borders
3¼ in. (83 mm.) wide

Provenance

Christie's, London, 9 November 1965, lot 159.
Christie's, London, 6 December 2005, lot 2.
Property of an Iberian Private Collector, Christie's, London, 8 December 2011, lot 176.

Brought to you by

Dido Penny

dpenny@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2794

Lot Essay

The scene on the cover is after Rubens' Venus and Adonis in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and that on the base after his other work of the same subject in the Hermitage. The Metropolitan version was in the Marlborough Collection at Blenheim Palace in the early 18th century. There are comparable examples of mythological and landscape enamel work, more often found on watch-cases, and associated with Blois, in the Victoria and Albert Museum no's 4869-901 and 2359-1855.

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