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THE PROPERTY OF A WEST COAST COLLECTOR
(LOT 632)
A MEISSEN GOLD-MOUNTED SNUFF-BOX AND COVER
CIRCA 1735
Details
A MEISSEN GOLD-MOUNTED SNUFF-BOX AND COVER
CIRCA 1735
Of oval bombé form, painted in purpurmalerei, the cover with the bathing Diana surprised by Actaeon, the box with classical figures revelling in a continuous landscape with distant mountains and buildings, the base with gallants and companions in a landscape enclosed by a gilt band, the interior richly gilt
3 in. (7.5 cm.) wide
CIRCA 1735
Of oval bombé form, painted in purpurmalerei, the cover with the bathing Diana surprised by Actaeon, the box with classical figures revelling in a continuous landscape with distant mountains and buildings, the base with gallants and companions in a landscape enclosed by a gilt band, the interior richly gilt
3 in. (7.5 cm.) wide
Provenance
C.W. Harris Collection.
Sale room notice
Please note, the description should read:
A GOLD-MOUNTED MEISSEN PURPURMALEREI SNUFF BOX AND A COVER
Circa 1735, the cover an early 19th century replacement
Estimate: $7,000 - 10,000
ADDITIONAL PROVENANCE
Anononymous sale, Christie's London, 7 October 1985, lot 180.
LITERATURE
Hugo Morley-Fletcher, Meissen Porcelain in Color, New York, 1979 ed., p. 93.
Barbara Beaucamp-Markowsky, Boites en Porcelaine des manufactures europiènnes au 18è siècle, Fribourg, 1985, pp. 430-431, no. 357 (where she attributes the decoration of the box to Ignaz Bottengruber by stylistic comparison to documentary works cited by Gustav E. Pazaurek, Deutsche Fayence-Und Porzellan-Hausmaler, Leipzig, 1925, pp. 165-192, and also suggests that the decoration of the cover might be by the hand of Bottengruber's pupil, C.F. von Wolfsburg).
The amount of care and attention paid and money spent replacing the cover of the present box is a testiment to the high regard in which it must have been held at the time. The technique and high quality of the monochrome purple decoration on the cover of the present box renders it virtually indistinguishable from that of the lower portion. That the decoration might be by a different hand was considered by Beauchamp-Markowsky in her seminal work on 18th century snuffboxes. Scientific testing developed since its 1985 publication now permits a more precise attribution - the presence of gold in relatively low proportions and of zinc and bismuth in relatively high proportions confirmed through qualitative x-ray fluorescence done on the enamels in the conservation science laboratory at Winterthur under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Mass indicating a 19th century date for the decoration on the cover.
A GOLD-MOUNTED MEISSEN PURPURMALEREI SNUFF BOX AND A COVER
Circa 1735, the cover an early 19th century replacement
Estimate: $7,000 - 10,000
ADDITIONAL PROVENANCE
Anononymous sale, Christie's London, 7 October 1985, lot 180.
LITERATURE
Hugo Morley-Fletcher, Meissen Porcelain in Color, New York, 1979 ed., p. 93.
Barbara Beaucamp-Markowsky, Boites en Porcelaine des manufactures europiènnes au 18è siècle, Fribourg, 1985, pp. 430-431, no. 357 (where she attributes the decoration of the box to Ignaz Bottengruber by stylistic comparison to documentary works cited by Gustav E. Pazaurek, Deutsche Fayence-Und Porzellan-Hausmaler, Leipzig, 1925, pp. 165-192, and also suggests that the decoration of the cover might be by the hand of Bottengruber's pupil, C.F. von Wolfsburg).
The amount of care and attention paid and money spent replacing the cover of the present box is a testiment to the high regard in which it must have been held at the time. The technique and high quality of the monochrome purple decoration on the cover of the present box renders it virtually indistinguishable from that of the lower portion. That the decoration might be by a different hand was considered by Beauchamp-Markowsky in her seminal work on 18th century snuffboxes. Scientific testing developed since its 1985 publication now permits a more precise attribution - the presence of gold in relatively low proportions and of zinc and bismuth in relatively high proportions confirmed through qualitative x-ray fluorescence done on the enamels in the conservation science laboratory at Winterthur under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Mass indicating a 19th century date for the decoration on the cover.