POSSIBLY AUGSBURG, MID-18TH CENTURY

Details

A SOUTH-GERMAN GOLD AND MOTHER-OF-PEARL NÉCESSAIRE
possibly Augsburg, mid-18th Century
Rectangular mother-of-pearl casket with curved sides and shaped corners, resting on four scrolling feet, the sides, base, obverse and reverse applied in high relief with chased gold figures and rocaille on the engraved ground, the lid applied with a gallant bearing a basket of flowers and a lady near the fountain, in the manner of Johann Esaias Nilson, the obverse and reverse with sinous putti almost metamorphosing into trees, wavy reeded gold mounts, the interior with gold-mounted and knobbed tray containing two-leaved tablet, gold bodkin with incorporated ear-spoon, chased and engraved gold needle case, gold tweezers with incorporated gold-ear spoon, two folding knives with gold handles and associated steel scissors with gold handle
4 7/8 in. (123 mm.) wide

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Geneva, 13 November 1986, lot 265 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C. R. Dreesmann (inventory no. F-165).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A number of similar gold-mounted South German sewing nécessaires exist including examples at Waddesdon Manor (illustrated in S. Grandjean et al., The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor. Gold Boxes and Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century, Fribourg, 1975, nos. 45-47, pp. 94-102), the Cleveland Museum of Art and in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt. The caskets appear to fall into two main categories of decoration, first, those with Chinoiserie scenes and secondly, those with contemporary figures in elaborate rococo settings. The syle of ornament is reminiscent of the work of numerous Augsburg artists and engravers of this date such I. J. A. Stockmann, J. S. and J. B. Klauber, F. X. Habermann and above all, J. E. Nilson. It is interesting to note that the scene on the lid of the Frankfurt casket of a lady and gentleman seated at a table is based exactly on a drawing of Nilson's, now in the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, for a casket lid.

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