BY CHARLES LE BASTIER (FL. 1754-1783), MARKED, PARIS, 1775/1776, WITH THE CHARGE AND DISCHARGE MARKS OF JEAN-BAPTISTE FOUACHE 1774-1780 AND STRUCK WITH INVENTORY NO. 254, THE ENAMEL PORTRAIT FRENCH OR SWISS, CIRCA 1710/1715

Details

A LOUIS XVI ENAMELLED TWO-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
by Charles Le Bastier (fl. 1754-1783), marked, Paris, 1775/1776, with the charge and discharge marks of Jean-Baptiste Fouache 1774-1780 and struck with inventory no. 254, the enamel portrait French or Swiss, circa 1710/1715
Oval box, the cover, side and base panels enamelled with alternating translucent blue and brown hatched/dotted salmon yellow vertical ribbons on a peaked and coin guilloché ground, within fluted gold and opaque white enamel borders, the cover later applied with an oval enamel plaque depicting King Philip V of Spain wearing a long curly powdered full-bottomed wig, silvered armour, the blue sash of the Royal French Order of the Holy Ghost and the jewel of the Order of the Golden Fleece, within a white enamel border applied with pierced gold ribbon cresting and floral garland, under glass and within a gold husk border, the opaque white-enamelled rims applied with a ribbon-twist band enclosing dots and interspersed with half-rosettes, the upper border of the side walls with opaque white enamel bands applied with swirling gold rosettes alternating with laurel garlands and framed by flutes, the four rectangular side wall dividers similarly enamelled and applied with chased gold trophies of music
3 5/16 in. (84 mm.) wide

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Philip (1683-1746), born and raised in France as Duke of Anjou, was a grandson of Louis XIV, the Sun King (see following lot). Louis XIV proclaimed him King of Spain in 1700 after the death of Philip's great-uncle Charles II 'the Bewitched'. The prospect of a union of the crowns of Spain and France under the house of Bourbon so alarmed the other European powers that it precipitated the War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1713. Philip ruled as Felipe V until 1724 when he abdicated in favour of his son Louis I. After the sudden death of his son in the same year, Felipe had to resume the throne and reigned until his death in 1746.
Portrait miniatures depicting Felipe V are rare. One is in the Gilbert Collection, London (illustrated in S. Coffin/B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection. Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, London, 2000, no. 93), and more iconographical information on this sitter can be found in M. Moran Turina, La imagen del rey Felipe V y el arte, Madrid, 1990.

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