Lot Essay
A Louis XV snuff-box with a similar agate decoration is illustrated in A. Kenneth Snowman, Eighteenth-Century Gold Boxes of Europe, London, 1966, plate 197.
VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A LOUIS XVI GOLD AND SILVER MOUNTED SPLIT-PEARL SET HARDSTONE SNUFF-BOX
PARIS, 1779/1780, WITH THE CHARGE MARK OF JEAN-BAPTISTE FOUACHE AND THE FIRST DISCHARGE MARK OF HENRY CLAVEL, THE "PETITE RECENSE" FOR PARIS 1798-1809 AND THE "PETITE RECENSE" FOR PARIS 1809-1819, MAKER'S MARK INDISTINCT
Details
A LOUIS XVI GOLD AND SILVER MOUNTED SPLIT-PEARL SET HARDSTONE SNUFF-BOX
Paris, 1779/1780, with the charge mark of Jean-Baptiste Fouache and the first discharge mark of Henry Clavel, the "Petite Recense" for Paris 1798-1809 and the "Petite Recense" for Paris 1809-1819, maker's mark indistinct
Rectangular box with canted corners, the cover, sides, corners and base set with panels of semi-translucent striated brown and grey agate, the cover centred by a silver-mounted domed opaque agate tondo, the gold cagework mounts decorated with blue enamelled ovolos alternating with circular split-pearls framed by two twisted gold cloisonné bands, the base panel centred by an agate tondo similarly framed by a split-pearl set gold mount, the eight side pilasters engraved to simulate columns and hung with blue-enamelled leaves
89 mm. (3½ in.) wide
Paris, 1779/1780, with the charge mark of Jean-Baptiste Fouache and the first discharge mark of Henry Clavel, the "Petite Recense" for Paris 1798-1809 and the "Petite Recense" for Paris 1809-1819, maker's mark indistinct
Rectangular box with canted corners, the cover, sides, corners and base set with panels of semi-translucent striated brown and grey agate, the cover centred by a silver-mounted domed opaque agate tondo, the gold cagework mounts decorated with blue enamelled ovolos alternating with circular split-pearls framed by two twisted gold cloisonné bands, the base panel centred by an agate tondo similarly framed by a split-pearl set gold mount, the eight side pilasters engraved to simulate columns and hung with blue-enamelled leaves
89 mm. (3½ in.) wide