BY JOSEPH-ETIENNE BLERZY, PARIS, 1776/1777

Lord Rothschild's collection of gold boxes was inherited principally from Baron Carl von Rothschild of Frankfurt. On Baron Carl's death in 1886 his remarkable collection, housed in his mansion at Untermainkai in Frankfurt, was divided amongst his five daughters, the second of whom, Emma Louise, married Nathan Mayer, 1st Lord Rothschild. The boxes and other works of art, augmented by the inheritance of Lady Rothschild's father-in-law, Baron Lionel de Rothschild, were housed at 148 Piccadilly. The contents of 148 Piccadilly were sold in 1937, but the boxes were retained by Lord Rothschild and subsequently sold in these rooms 30 June 1982. They formed an important group of the finest examples of the works of the great Paris goldsmiths of the 18th century and also exceptional boxes from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and reflected both the range and quality of the taste for so long associated with the Rothschild family. See the essay by P. Shirley , 'The Rothschilds as Collectors of Gold Boxes' in ed. T. Murdoch and H. Zech, Going for Gold , London, 2014, pp. 236-7. We are grateful to the Rothschild Archive for allowing access to the Untermainkai inventory.
For another box from the Lord Rothschild Collection sale see lot 151.