BY ANDREAS DAHLBERG (FL. 1786-1818), MARKED BOTH WITH INITIALS AND WITH FULL FAMILY NAME, WITH THE ST PETERSBURG TOWN MARK, ASSAY MASTER ALEKSANDER ILYITCH YASHINOV, THE MINIATURE STUDIO OF DOMENICO BOSSI, CIRCA 1805

Details

A RUSSIAN TWO-COLOUR GOLD IMPERIAL PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A MINIATURE
by Andreas Dahlberg (fl. 1786-1818), marked both with initials and with full family name, with the St Petersburg town mark, assay master Aleksander Ilyitch Yashinov, the miniature studio of Domenico Bossi, circa 1805
Rectangular box with rounded corners and hinge at the short side, the cover centred by a glazed oval miniature depicting Tsar Alexander I of Russia (1777-1825), facing left in semi-profile with flowing forward-combed curly light-brown hair and sidewhiskers, wearing a blue uniform with embroidered red high collar, decorated with the blue sash and breast-star of the Imperial Russian Order of Saint Andrew and with the badge of the Imperial Russian Military Order of St George, gold epaulettes, within a narrow gold rim stamped with stylized acanthus, framed in a frosted gold border stamped in two-colour gold with acorn leaves and cones, on a rectangular frosted gold panel with rounded corners, stamped with scrolling foliage and applied in the corners with four circular spandrels stamped with rosettes on a frosted ground, within a fluted border, the panels on the sides and base engine-turned with a diaper pattern and framed by frosted gold bands stamped with trailing foliage, with similarly stamped frosted gold corners
3 9/16 in. (90 mm.) high

Provenance

With Léon Grinberg, Paris.

Literature

A. von Solodkoff, Russische Goldschmiedekunst 17.-19. Jahrhundert, Fribourg, n. d., p. 185, illustrated p. 184 no. 202 (erroneously as by Keibel).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

A native Swede, Andreas Dahlberg arrived as an apprentice from Stockholm in St Petersburg in 1781. He struck his mark in 1786 and specialised in 'Galanterie' and engraving. He married twice and died in 1818 at the age of 62. For more information, see L. Bäcksbacka, St Petersburgs Juvelare, Guld-och Silversmeder 1714-1870, Helsinki, 1951, p. 321, and also A. von Solodkoff, op. cit., p. 215, where Dahlberg is mentioned as a master for snuff-boxes.

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