A LOUIS XV GOLD SNUFF-BOX
A LOUIS XV GOLD SNUFF-BOX
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A LOUIS XV GOLD SNUFF-BOX

BY JOHANN-FRIEDRICH BUTTNER (FL. 1746-1768), MARKED, STRASBOURG, 1754/1755, WITH THE PARTLY ERASED STRASBOURG 'RECONNAISSANCE' FOR THE PARIS GOLD CARATAGE OF 18.6, LATER STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD

Details
A LOUIS XV GOLD SNUFF-BOX
BY JOHANN-FRIEDRICH BUTTNER (FL. 1746-1768), MARKED, STRASBOURG, 1754/1755, WITH THE PARTLY ERASED STRASBOURG 'RECONNAISSANCE' FOR THE PARIS GOLD CARATAGE OF 18.6, LATER STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD

rectangular box, the cover, sides and base with panels boldly chased and engraved with architectural caprices behind islands and tendrils of leafy foliage, on off-centred radiating sunburst motifs, within polished gold rims
3¼ in. (82 mm.) wide
6 oz. (182 gr.)
Provenance
Property of the late Barbara Woolworth Hutton (1912-1979); Sotheby's, Zurich, 23-24 November 1978, lot 40.
Christie's, Geneva, 13 November 1984, lot 32.
Sotheby's, Geneva, 16 May 1995, lot 81.
With Sapjo, Monte-Carlo, 1997, acquired by Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesman (inventory no. F-217);
Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 915.

Brought to you by

David McLachlan
David McLachlan

Lot Essay

Snuff-boxes by King Stanislas Leszczynski's court goldsmith Johann Friedrich Büttner, also spelled Jean-Frédéric Bittner, are extremely rare. The half-a-dozen known examples include an oval box, dated 1768, sold Christie's, London, 21 June 1999, lot 239 and another box sold Christie's, London, 11 December 1953; two ingot shaped boxes, of 1767 and 1768, were in a sale at Sotheby's, Geneva, 6 May 1981, lots 66 and 67. A rectangular box of 1762-1763 sold for SF280,000 at Christie's, Geneva, 15 November 1988, lot 237. An oval box, of 1767, is in the Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'Emaillerie, Geneva, illustrated in M. Gauthey, Catalogue des tabatières et étuis de la donation Xavier Givaudan, Geneva, 1969, pp. 150-151. See J. Helft, Le Poinçon des Provinces Françaises, Paris, 1968, ill. 89 a. for more information on the Strasbourg mark.

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