CIRCA 1750

Johann Martin Heinrici (1711-1786) is credited with first decorating porcelain with mother-of-pearl, at Meissen, circa 1745. While this decorative technique on gold boxes has been attributed to Heinrici, it is now given to Heinrich Taddel. A quartz box composed of gold, burgau shell and composition, now in the Gilbert Collection, is engraved on the bezel TADDELL.a.DRESDEN. Like the present lot, the Taddel box features architectural pavilions. The signed box, and two others attributed to the Taddel workshop employing the same technique, are illustrated in Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, 1991, cat. nos. 61-63.