DRESDEN, CIRCA 1750

Saxony's abundance of colorful hardstones provided inspiration for the lapidaries of Dresden, and this specimen of puddingstone, with its spotted pattern, was naturally enough carved in the form of a leopard. Three similar animal-form boxes from Dresden, two lions and one stag, are in the collection of the Hermitage. All three are set with diamond eyes and teeth similar to those on the present example (Kenneth Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, 1966, figs. 495-497).