BERLIN, 1756

Lobositz was the first battle of the Seven Years War. The Saxons believed that neutrality was the best guarantee of survival at the outbreak of war. This delusion was to cost them dearly as 62,000 Prussians marched into their territory in what might be described as a pre-emptive strike against Austria. The manoeuvre caught the Austrians by surprise and the Empress Maria Theresa commanded to rescue the Saxon Army. The 15,000 Saxons had decided to stand at the camp at Pirna-Sonnenstein, on the west bank of the River Elbe near Dresden. Before the Austrians were really ready, 29,000 of the Prussians, under Frederick the Great, started to move into northern Bohemia and along the Elbe. The two armies clashed at Lobositz on 1 October 1756, and on 16 October, the Saxons had to surrender. A similar enamel snuff-box was in the collection of Baron Hugo von Mecklenburg auf Panlitz, sold Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 3-6 October, lot 271, and another one was in the Jahn Collection, sold Lempertz, Cologne, 13-14 May 1993, lot 289.