Lot 8
8
A FINE SWISS GEM-SET GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF BOX
ANOTHER PROPERTY
A FINE SWISS GEM-SET GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF BOX

GENEVA, CIRCA 1810, MAKER'S MARK SN

Details
A FINE SWISS GEM-SET GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF BOX
Geneva, circa 1810, maker's mark SN
Formed as a lion couchant, the polychrome enamel cover realistically painted, the mane strewn with diamonds, the tail and border set with split pearls, the base painted with a scene of a clouds, lightning and water, possibly representing the four elements (with the lion representing earth), within a gold and black foliate enamel border, the sides enameled with fruits and flowers against a blue ground, within white enamel borders, the interior struck with maker's mark
3 1/8in. (80mm.) long
Provenance
The Palace Collections of Egypt (Farouk sale), Sotheby's, Cairo, March 10, 1954, lot 696
Literature
Kenneth Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, 1966, illus. no. 743

Lot Essay

A similar lion-form snuffbox, lacking the diamond mane, sold in these Rooms, October 18, 1994, lot 203 and is now in the Gilbert Collection (see Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, vol. II, 1999, illus. p. 75). A related cheetah-form snuff box, also with maker's mark SN sold in these Rooms, April 18, 1991, lot 192.

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