Snuffbox
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Baudesson, Daniel (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Engraved and enamelled gold
- Credit Line:
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Gold, Silver & Mosaics, room 72, case 3
- Image in copyright
Daniel Baudesson, the maker of this gold box, is arguably the most famous of the Berlin snuffbox makers. He made boxes for Frederick the Great and was named in a document of 1766 as court goldsmith. The enamels decorating the box are attributed to Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726-1801). He probably studied the art of enamelling with Johann Philipp Haid, who was a pupil of the Augsburg artist Georg Philipp Rugendas.
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.
Physical description
An oval, engraved and enamelled gold snuffbox. On the cover, a scene of putti representing the arts and sciences beneath Minerva within a cartouche of shellwork and scrolls.
Place of Origin
Berlin, Germany (made)
Date
1755-70 (made)
Artist/maker
Baudesson, Daniel (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Engraved and enamelled gold
Dimensions
Length: 9.5 cm, Width: 5 cm, Height: 4.3 cm
Object history note
Provenance: S.J. Phillips, London.
Descriptive line
An oval, enamelled gold snuffbox, engraved with stylized shells and enamelled en plein with, on the cover, putti representing the arts and sciences beneath Minerva.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Truman, Charles, The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Volume 1, Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1991, cat. no. 77, pp. 226-8, ISBN.0875871623
Zech, Heike, "'Theatre of War': Two Enamelled Copper Snuffboxes with Maps Relating to the Seven Years' War", The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Vol. 18, June 2010, pp. 48-55, ill. p. 51
Exhibition History
Gold Boxes from the Gilbert Collection (Los Angeles County Museum of Art 01/01/1986-31/12/1987)
Gold Boxes from the Gilbert Collection (Los Angeles County Museum of Art 01/01/1986-31/12/1987)
Gold Boxes from the Gilbert Collection (Los Angeles County Museum of Art 01/01/1986-31/12/1987)
Labels and date
Snuffbox with putti and Minerva
1755–70
Berlin, Germany; mark of Daniel Baudesson (1716–85),
enamels probably by Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801)
Engraved and enamelled gold
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.333-2008 [2009]
Production Note
The enamels attributed to Daniel Chodowiecki
Materials
Gold; Enamel
Techniques
Engraving (incising); Basse-taille
Subjects depicted
Scrolls; Putti; Cartouches; Minerva
Collection code
MET
