Snuffbox
1786-1787 (marked)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
The central panel shows the hero Jason bidding farewell to his uncle King Pelias. Jason and his company of Argonauts embarked on a quest to find the Golden Fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallos in order to win back his throne from his uncle. An identical miniature survives in an earlier box by Charles Ouizille, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and in a Swiss box in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. It may therefore be that the miniatures were painted by a Swiss artist and exported to France.
Blerzy, whose mark survives on a large number of boxes, must have run one of the largest workshops in Paris in the late eighteenth century.
Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Blerzy, whose mark survives on a large number of boxes, must have run one of the largest workshops in Paris in the late eighteenth century.
Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Enamelled gold |
Brief description | A mauve enamelled gold snuffbox cover depicting Jason. Gold and enamel, Joseph-Etienne Blerzy, Paris, 1786-87 |
Physical description | An oval opaque mauve enamelled gold snuffbox, the cover set with an enamel plaque depicting Jason taking leave of his uncle, King Pelias |
Dimensions |
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Gallery label | 7. Snuffbox with Jason taking leave of King Pelias, 1786–87
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.1030-2008(16/11/2016) |
Credit line | The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
Object history | Provenance: A la Vieille Russie, New York. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | The central panel shows the hero Jason bidding farewell to his uncle King Pelias. Jason and his company of Argonauts embarked on a quest to find the Golden Fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallos in order to win back his throne from his uncle. An identical miniature survives in an earlier box by Charles Ouizille, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and in a Swiss box in the Musée du Louvre in Paris. It may therefore be that the miniatures were painted by a Swiss artist and exported to France. Blerzy, whose mark survives on a large number of boxes, must have run one of the largest workshops in Paris in the late eighteenth century. Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996. |
Bibliographic references |
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Other numbers |
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Collection | |
Accession number | LOAN:GILBERT.1030-2008 |
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Record created | June 19, 2008 |
Record URL |
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