A FAMILLE ROSE SHOE-SHAPED SNUFF BOX

18TH CENTURY

Details

A FAMILLE ROSE SHOE-SHAPED SNUFF BOX
18TH CENTURY
The piece is modelled as a European shoe with a front buckle, raised heel and upturned toe. The body is decorated and gilt with scattered flower-sprays on a green-enamelled ground, the heel and sole are enamelled iron-red and brown respectively. The rim mounted with a later hinged gilt-metal mounted cover decorated with a further flower spray.
3 ¾ in. (9.5 cm.) long

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Lot Essay

Compare two shoes with a metal-hinged cover decorated with famille rose flowers on a white-glazed ground, one catalogued as a bonbonnière in Michel Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Company, p. 177, cat. no. 108, and the other from the Copeland Collection in William R Sargeant, The Copeland Collection: Chinese and Japanese Ceramic Figures, Peabody Museum of Salem, 1991, pp.160-161, no. 74. In the latter volume, Sargeant discusses the European versions which inspired the production of these Chinese-made export pieces, for example an almost identical soft-paste counterpart dated to around 1750 from the Mennecy factory in France, as well as further similar shoes produced in the Chantilly and Doccia factories.

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