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Not currently on display at the V&A

Snuffbox

ca.1755 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This box is part of a small group of Meissen boxes made in the shape of envelopes. Similar boxes are sometimes found in Russian porcelain and in enamelled copper. They were probably intended as gifts to loved ones.

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

Object type
Materials and techniques
Gold-mounted, enamelled porcelain
Brief description
Rectangular gold-mounted porcelain snuffbox in the form of a sealed letter, the cover painted in black with the inscription: 'a Monsieur / Monsieur Le Constant / Directeur des infideles', above interlaced scrolls. The interior of the cover is painted with figures dancing and making music in a garden; the interior of the base is painted with a blue trellis enclosing flowers; the base moulded and painted with a Minerva's head. The top has a plain waved-gold mount and flaring thumbpiece.
Physical description
Rectangular gold-mounted porcelain snuffbox in the form of a sealed letter, the cover painted in black with the inscription: 'a Monsieur / Monsieur Le Constant / Directeur des infideles', above interlaced scrolls. The interior of the cover is painted with figures dancing and making music in a garden; the interior of the base is painted with a blue trellis enclosing flowers; the base moulded and painted with a Minerva's head. The top has a plain waved-gold mount and flaring thumbpiece.
Dimensions
  • Height: 2.7cm
  • Width: 8.8cm
  • Depth: 7.0cm
  • Weight: 160g
Updated with measurements taken 23/09/2008
Gallery label
  • 3. Snuffbox in the form of a sealed letter About 1755 This box is part of a small group of Meissen boxes made in the shape of envelopes. The outsides and patterned blue bases are painted by the same hand, but the interiors are by different painters. They were probably intended as gifts to loved ones. Box: Meissen, Germany Mounts: possibly Dresden, Germany Hard-paste porcelain, enamel colours and gold Inscribed in French ‘To the Constant Director of the Unfaithful’ Museum no. Loan: Gilbert.502-2008(16/11/2016)
  • Snuffbox in the form of a sealed letter About 1755 This box is part of a small group of Meissen boxes made in the shape of envelopes. The outsides and patterned blue bases seem to be painted by the same hand, but the interiors are by different painters. Similar boxes are sometimes found in Russian porcelain and in enamelled copper. They were probably intended as gifts to loved ones. Box: Meissen, Germany Mounts: possibly Dresden, Germany Hard-paste porcelain, enamel colours and gold Inscribed in French ‘To the Director of the Unfaithful’ Museum no. Loan: Gilbert.502-2008(2009)
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Sotheby's, Geneva, lot 9, 15/11/1994. S. J. Phillips, London.
Production
'There is no reason to suppose that the mounts are not contemporary with the box, and were probably made by a local, Dresden goldsmith.'
Subjects depicted
Summary
This box is part of a small group of Meissen boxes made in the shape of envelopes. Similar boxes are sometimes found in Russian porcelain and in enamelled copper. They were probably intended as gifts to loved ones.

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 reference
Truman, Charles.The Gilbert collection of gold boxes, volume II, London: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1999, cat. no. 29, p. 53. ISBN.0856675210.
Other numbers
  • GB 193 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1996.541 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • GB 215 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1998.17 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.502-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
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