BY JOHANN-CHRISTIAN NEUBER, SIGNED ON THE FLANGE "NEUBER À DRESDE", CIRCA 1780

Details

AN IMPORTANT SAXON HARDSTONE AND GOLD PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX
by Johann-Christian Neuber, signed on the flange "Neuber à Dresde", circa 1780
Oval gold box, the cover, sides and base inlaid with a symmetrical pattern of octagonal figured moss agate and brown jasper plaques with simulated pearls at the intersections, the burnished gold borders inset with oval carnelians alternating with turquoise and yellow enamelled forget-me-nots surrounded by scallopped rims, the cover set with an oval portrait miniature of Frederick Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, bust-length facing right, wearing an ermine-lined pink cloak over a silvered breast-plate, with powdered short wig en queue, within a beaded gold mount surrounded by a laurel wreath of engraved green agate, with chased gold ribbon cresting above and beneath
87 mm. (3 7/16 in.) wide

Provenance

Félix Doistau Collection, Paris; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 18-19 June 1928, lot 144, illustrated opp. p. 52 (sold 22,000 French Francs).

Literature

Walter Holzhausen, Johann-Christian Neuber, Dresden, 1935, illustr. no. 22.

Lot Essay

Frederick Augustus III (1750-1827), son of Crown Prince Frederick Christian of Saxony and his wife Princess Maria Antonia of Bavaria, was a great-grandson of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland. Frederick Augustus succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony in 1763 and was styled the first King of Saxony in 1806, by order of Emperor Napoleon I. Whereas his later political activities turned into a disaster - Napoleon's defeat caused Saxony's territories to be considerably reduced - his domestic politics encouraged economy and promoted the arts. Elector Frederick Augustus III and his family were the most important patrons of Johann Christian Neuber and several presentation snuff-boxes by Neuber decorated with the portraits of members of the Saxon Electoral family have survived.

More from Objects of Vertu

View All