PROBABLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A MEISSEN GOLD-MOUNTED TRIANGULAR-SHAPED MASONIC SNUFF-BOX AND COVER
PROBABLY 19TH CENTURY
The cover painted with Fortuna holding a cornucopia and leaning against a column inscribed Le grand Art de se taire, masonic instruments at her feet, within a gilt line and band border, the sides with figures, carriages and buildings in parkland landscapes, the base with three birds perched on a rocky outcrop supporting a triangle below the inscription Trois au veritable., the interior of the hinged cover painted with a mason in a tricorn hat wearing and holding masonic symbols, with further instruments strewn at his feet, in a draped portico before distant classical buildings, the interior of the box richly gilt (slight wear to base and to gilt border of cover)
3¼ in. (8.3 cm.) wide overall

Special notice

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Rodney Woolley

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Lot Essay

The Meissen inventories note that in 1741 a triangular snuff-box form was developed by J.J. Kändler specifically for masonic snuff-boxes. The scene on the exterior and interior is almost identical to the triangular box illustrated by M. Kunze-Köllensperger, Collection Franz E. Burda (1997), cat. no. 116, p. 194, which was sold anonymously in these Rooms on 29th November 1973. See also the rectangular section snuff-box with similar masonic scenes on the exterior in V&A Museum, London, illustrated by Barbara Beaucamp-Markowsky, Boîtes en Porcelaine des manufactures européennes au 18e siècle (Fribourg, 1985), pp. 432-433, no. 358.

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