Snuffbox
ca. 1750 (made)
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Sunffboxes made of tin-glazed earthenware are exceptionally rare as the heaviness of the body, the lower status of earthenware and the fragility of the glaze, which chipped easily, made them ill-suited to their role as a fashionable accessory.
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.
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
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Tin-glazed earthenware, silvered brass |
| Brief description | Double snuffbox. Tin-glazed earthenware and silvered brass, possibly Germany, ca. 1750 |
| Physical description | Cartouche-shaped, double opening pottery snuffbox, each end with a silvered brass hinged mount, and with a waisted body, tin-glazed in yellow, and painted in enamels on the cover with two huntsmen armed with spear and bow and arrow pursuing lions. On the base the scene is of a huntsman and a wild beast. Around the walls four huntsmen in Arab dress pursue a lion. |
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| Credit line | The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
| Object history | Provenance: Sale, Christie's Geneva, lot 144, 16/05/1994. S.J. Phillips. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Sunffboxes made of tin-glazed earthenware are exceptionally rare as the heaviness of the body, the lower status of earthenware and the fragility of the glaze, which chipped easily, made them ill-suited to their role as a fashionable accessory. 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. |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | LOAN:GILBERT.517-2008 |
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| Record created | June 19, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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