Lot Essay
This type of ncessaire, with mounts rarely marked, seems to have been contemporaneously produced in France, Germany and England, making their attribution difficult. While the pierced mounts are close in style to German rococo designs, the distinctive striated agate is closely comparable to some tuis-ncessaires in the Louvre dated circa 1760-1770 and possibly English (see Serge Grandjean, Catalogue des tabatires botes et tuis des XVIIIe et XIXe sicles, Paris, 1981, no. 505 and 506).