PARIS, 1743/1744, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF LOUIS ROBIN 1738-1744

Details

A LOUIS XV GOLD-MOUNTED SHELL SNUFF-BOX
PARIS, 1743/1744, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF LOUIS ROBIN 1738-1744
tapering box made of the convex parts of two Oliva Porphyria shells, the outside with natural light brown zig-zag and chevrons creating a mountainous design, the rear of the base part with spiralling tail below the hinge, the gold mounts on the lid chased with a scalloped border, the front with two polished gold lunettes on cover and base and incorporating the reeded pushpiece in the front part of the lid
2.½ in. (63 mm.) wide

Provenance

with Galerie Neuse, Bremen, 1995 (as attributed to Barnabé Sageret, Paris 1747), acquired by
Dr Anton C. R. Dreesmann (inventory no. F-203).
The Dr Anton C. R. Dreesmann Collection Gold Boxes, Objects of Vertu and Portrait Miniatures; Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 920.

Lot Essay

This box is an interesting testimony to the conchyliomania during the 18th century. The period of its manufacture coincides with a particular activer period of the trading in and collecting of shells, during the reign of Louis XV. In 1736, the famous marchand-mercier E.-F. Gersaint published a sale catalogue of collection of shells he had acquired in the Netherlands. Other Oliva Porphyria boxes are illustrated in A. K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, Woodbridge, 1990, plates 347 and 446. Recently sold similar snuff-boxes include one auctioned at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 14 December 2000, lot 235, one sold Christie's, London, 27 November 1991, lot 1 and one sold Christie's, London, An Iberian Private Collection, 8 December, 2011, lot 161.

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