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Lot Essay
ANTIQUE GENS AND DESIGN SOURCES
In common with the following lot, the scenes of Cupid on the covers are taken from classical gems. A drawing after the antique in the British Museum (2005,0927.56) depicts Cupid riding an amphora with sail raised. A similar scene was reproduced by the Dutch antiquary Abraham Gorlaeus (d.1610) in volume two of his Dactyliothecae, no. 234, his influential work on engraved gems, whose collection was bought on behalf of Henry, Princes of Wales (1594-1612), eldest son of King James I. The scene of Cupid with his foot caught in a snare if also seen on a number of engraved gems.
The combination of Adamesque ribbon-tied husk garlands and the classical scenes of putti after James Tassie on these boxes and casket, the following lot, is almost identical to an important and extensive silver-gilt toilet service made by Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp in 1777 for Queen Sofia Magdalena of Denmark now in the Livrustkammaren Museum, Stockholm (illustrated in R. Rowe, Adam Silver, pl. 78, incorrectly dated 1779). Smith and Sharp were later commissioned to create another gilt service with similar ornament in 1783 for the 10th Earl of Westmorland and his new bride Sarah Anne, daughter of Robert Child, of Osterley Park. Other elements, probably from the same 1777 toilet service include, A circular toilet box, 6 ¾ in. (17.5 cm.) diameter, Christie's, New York, 15 April 1997, lot 249, and a circular toilet box, 6 ¾ in. (17.5 cm.) diameter, Bonham's London, 18 March 2002, lot 46, and a glove tray with similar decoration, 10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) wide, Sotheby's New York, 17 October 2008, lot 19.
In common with the following lot, the scenes of Cupid on the covers are taken from classical gems. A drawing after the antique in the British Museum (2005,0927.56) depicts Cupid riding an amphora with sail raised. A similar scene was reproduced by the Dutch antiquary Abraham Gorlaeus (d.1610) in volume two of his Dactyliothecae, no. 234, his influential work on engraved gems, whose collection was bought on behalf of Henry, Princes of Wales (1594-1612), eldest son of King James I. The scene of Cupid with his foot caught in a snare if also seen on a number of engraved gems.
The combination of Adamesque ribbon-tied husk garlands and the classical scenes of putti after James Tassie on these boxes and casket, the following lot, is almost identical to an important and extensive silver-gilt toilet service made by Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp in 1777 for Queen Sofia Magdalena of Denmark now in the Livrustkammaren Museum, Stockholm (illustrated in R. Rowe, Adam Silver, pl. 78, incorrectly dated 1779). Smith and Sharp were later commissioned to create another gilt service with similar ornament in 1783 for the 10th Earl of Westmorland and his new bride Sarah Anne, daughter of Robert Child, of Osterley Park. Other elements, probably from the same 1777 toilet service include, A circular toilet box, 6 ¾ in. (17.5 cm.) diameter, Christie's, New York, 15 April 1997, lot 249, and a circular toilet box, 6 ¾ in. (17.5 cm.) diameter, Bonham's London, 18 March 2002, lot 46, and a glove tray with similar decoration, 10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) wide, Sotheby's New York, 17 October 2008, lot 19.