A Birmingham enamel snuff-box

CIRCA 1755

Details

A Birmingham enamel snuff-box
circa 1755
Oblong, the cover printed and painted with Les Jeu des Quartre Coins, after Hancock after an engraving by Larmessin after Lancret, the slightly waisted white ground sides and base printed in sepia with Seated Lovers, Captive Bird, La Chanson and other landscapes, the interior cover painted in puce with Minuet by the Sea, after Hancock after Boitard, the gilt-metal mounts with engraved and scalloped edges
3½in. (8.2cm.) wide

Provenance

The Mullens Collection, Christie's, 18 March 1987, lot 485

Lot Essay

'Le Jeu au Quartre Coins' was one of a number of scenes found in a volume in the British Museum by W.H. Hughes in 1932. They were all engraved by Robert Hancock and a number of them by Larmessin. See Watney & Charleston (op.cit.), 1966, p.91, pls 90-94, where the box is associated with the 'Swan Group' of enamels, although as noted by Hughes in the 1935 ECC Transactions the two swans did not appear in the original engraving. Cf. Christie's, 22 October 1986, lot 31.

More from Silver

View All