A yellow gold box engraved and chiseled with scrolls and she - Lot 148

Lot n° 148
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Estimation :
60000 - 100000 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 60 000EUR
A yellow gold box engraved and chiseled with scrolls and she - Lot 148
A yellow gold box engraved and chiseled with scrolls and shell clasps, decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl and burgau, depicting outdoor scenes with characters in the Chinese style, tea ceremony, birdwatcher, fishermen, woman with a fan and garlands of flowers, all faces. PARIS 1757 Master Goldsmith : not identified L. 7,4 cm W. 5,8 cm H. 4 cm ESP Gross weight: 257.2 g Provenance: According to family tradition: Previously in the Wertheimer collection Sotheby's London, 14 - 7- 1953, N°270 of the catalogue. Christie's sale in Geneva, 8 -5 - 79, N° 97 of the catalogue In a monogrammed slipcase The appearance of tobacco in the 16th century caused a great craze in Europe, people smoked pipes or took tobacco. Its use became a real fashion phenomenon under Louis XIV, then throughout the eighteenth century. In response to this fashion, objects were created throughout Europe, such as tobacco rasps or pots, snuffboxes, placed on a table or housed in a pocket. These are boxes that must close tightly to preserve the tobacco powder. They are made of wood, leather, silver and gold according to taste and means. Kings, lords and ladies of the court used to take, the art of taking or offering a snuff was then part of the beautiful manners. The manufacture of snuffboxes, fly boxes, wax cases . It was one of the most important specialties of the goldsmith's trade in the 18th century. Snuffboxes in yellow gold were made by goldsmiths specializing in the creation of small objects, which differed from the coarse goldsmiths specializing in silverware. In the early years of the 18th century, snuffboxes had a contoured shape, but in the decade of the 1740s they adopted a more sober rectangular model. The snuffbox is then a "social necessity" attesting to the wealth and good taste of its owner. They are then in gold imitating in the work of chiseling the silk with flower motifs, enamelled in full or cloisonné, decorated with a portrait or mounted in a cage, decorated with gouache, plates of lacquer of Japan, ornamental stones or mother of pearl Our snuffbox by its decoration freely inspired by the Far East is part of the vogue of chinoiseries that invaded the decorative arts in the eighteenth century. The goldsmith uses mother-of-pearl in a marquetry work inlaid in the gold background of the box, playing with its iridescence from pink to green. Snuffboxes with subjects inspired by the Far East using burgau and mother-of-pearl, were very successful mainly in the years 1740 - 1750 in Paris, as shown by the snuffboxes of Michel de Lassus, Jean Ducrollay, Louis Pierret
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