AN IMPORTANT GEORGE III GOLD, HARDSTONE AND GEM-SET EROTIC AUTOMATON SNUFF-BOX SET WITH WATCH

DIAL SIGNED JAMES COX, LONDON, CIRCA 1770

Details

AN IMPORTANT GEORGE III GOLD, HARDSTONE AND GEM-SET EROTIC AUTOMATON SNUFF-BOX SET WITH WATCH
DIAL SIGNED JAMES COX, LONDON, CIRCA 1770
The rectangular snuffbox with white striated, grey-green agate plaques and gold cagework chased with scrolls, shells and floral swags, the foliate thumbpiece set with rubies and emeralds, the front with convex rock-crystal panel and white enameled Roman chaptered watch dial, flanked by a regulator and an open balance, the reverse with hinged secret compartment featuring two windows with rotating erotic scenes, both automaton and static, against a painted landscape, signed Jas. Cox, London on watch dial, with key
3 1/8in. (80mm.) long

Provenance

Christie's, Geneva, May 12, 1981, lot 444
Christie's, New York, April 19, 2002, lot 49

Literature

The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no. 202, p. 244
Géza von Habsburg-Lothringen, Gold Boxes from the Collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, 1983, p. 52
Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, 1991, no. 105, p. 308

Exhibited

"The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection," Christie's, London, 1989, no. 202

Lot Essay

This automaton snuff box corresponds very closely to one in the Gilbert Collection, Somerset House, illustrated in Charles Truman, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, 1991, no. 105 pp. 307-08. Both boxes feature a watch, flanked by regulator and open balance, and the reverse with a painted landscape with rotating panels. However, the present lot features a dial signed by James Cox, while the box in the Gilbert Collection is unsigned and unmarked.

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