A VERY FINE SAXON CAMEO-SET GOLD AND HARDSTONE SNUFF-BOX

THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE MRS VERA HUE-WILLIAMS, SOLD ON BEHALF OF THE EXECUTORS AND BENEFICIARIES

Details

A VERY FINE SAXON CAMEO-SET GOLD AND HARDSTONE SNUFF-BOX
by Johann-Christian Neuber, Dresden, circa 1770/1780

Oval gold box set with hardstones, the cover and base incrusted with panels of striated green and pink agates forming an oval blossom, on a carnelian ground, within a border of white calcedony and green chrysoprase bands adorned with simulated half-pearls alternating with turquoise-set flowerheads, the rim of the lid identically edged, the sides of the base set with rectangular panels with arched tops of alternating green and pink striated agate, the four side pilasters inset with green chrysoprase leavy garlands flanked by lapis-lazuli panels representing pillars, the base centered by a navette-shaped carnelian panel framed by simulated half-pearls, the cover set with a blue, brown and black agate cameo elaborately carved with an allegory of Fortune, the nude goddess riding on a couple of dolphins and holding a sail billowing by the efforts of a wind-god with puffed cheeks blowing so strongly that her dishelved hair blinds her sight, framed by an oval gold mount bordered with simulated half-pearls -- 87 mm wide, one grey agate blossom panel with minimal hairline crack

Lot Essay

Another Zellenmosaik snuff-box by Neuber, also set with a cameo, and with a nearly identical hardstone design, is in the Louvre (illustrated in Serge Grandjean, Les tabatières du musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981, pp. 285-286, nr 430).

More from Objects of Vertu

View All