Snuff box, hard-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilt, with gilt copper mounts, made at Meissen, ca. 1725-35, the decoration about 1735-45 probably by Abraham Seuter in Augsburg.

Snuff box of hard-paste porcelain, of vertical rectangular shape, of double-compartment type with two hinged covers. Gilt copper mounts. Painted in enamel colours and gilt with emblematic subjects of Masonic significance, framed by scrolls and leaves. On one side there is a scene depicting a mason, wearing his chain of office and apron and wielding his gavel, a set square, trowel and other tools at his feet. The other side has an allegorical female figure of Fortune holding a cornucopia, standing by a column inscribed in French with the motto of the Freemasons 'Le grand art de se taire'. One short side has three birds holding a triangle, inscribed 'Trois au veritable', another has a library scene with a book out on a table inscribed with an 'F', the top and bottom have a putto, one holding a violin and bow, the other a drum. The interiors of the covers are painted with three-quarter length portraits, one of a man stroking a dog, the other with a woman framed by a window, a bird perched on her right hand. Below both figures are ribbons which bear the traces of former inscriptions.

Given by Col. Waldo-Sibthorp

Barbara Beaucamp-Markowsky devotes 2 pages of her book (see below), the standard work on porcelain snuff boxes, to this box. The following information is taken from there:

The scene of 'Fortune' appears on another Meissen box, catalogue no. 100, in her publication, and is also recorded on a Meissen box of triangular form sold at Sotheby's, London (26th April 1977, lot 280).

Hausmaler decoration on Meissen porcelain is usually found on pieces produced prior to the standard application of the underglaze crossed swords marks, ie. 1723-1731. The second quarter of the 18th century was the heyday for outside decorators working in Augsburg on Meissen blanks. Two of the most important hausmalers were Abraham and Bartolomäus Seuter. A considerable group of work, often after Watteau, is known by these two brothers. The decoration on this box is similar to a number of works by Abraham Seuter, suggesting he may have been responsible for its decoration. Ducret (see below) illustrates on p. 175 a saucer with a similar female figure with a bird perched on her hand. The rather stiff manner of painting the figures and the inclusion of a strange-looking dog in the male portrait can also find parallels in other items attributed to Abraham Seuter by Ducret ( see fig. 136 and 137 for the dog and 174 for figures).

The simple scroll, leaf and chain ornaments which frame the cartouches are typical Augsburg versions of the contemporary elaborate laub und bandelwerk gilding of the Meissen factory. Snuff boxes were probably among the objets de vertu painted and mounted in the Seuter workshop: Ducret cites a member of their corporation who stated in 1747 ' Bartholomeus Seuter and his two brothers currently absent (the painter Abraham and the goldsmith Johannes Paulus) have without a doubt been making trinkets and decorating them in their workshops for thirty years.' (Ducret, 1972 vol. 2, p. 2)

In the eighteenth century, the taking of snuff (finely-ground and blended tobacco) was a very fashionable pastime and social ritual. The snuff-box accordingly became an essential accessory for any person of taste and refinement. Tobacco and snuff were expensive and seen as desirable and sophisticated.

The original owner of this box must have been a Freemason, as the decoration has a Masonic theme. Unusually, it has two shallow separate compartments, presumably for different types or strengths of snuff, which can be opened from either the top or the bottom (hence the decoration being painted seemingly upside down on one side and one end, as this would have appeared the right way up when the box was being used the other way round). The interiors of the hinged covers have been painted with portraits, a man on one, a woman on the other.

This box was made at the most famous porcelain manufactory in Europe in the first half of the 18th century: Meissen in Saxony. The box bears no marks, which was normal during the early period of the factory's production. The range of colours and style of painting are not typical of Meissen however, and this strongly suggests it was decorated and mounted outside the factory by hausmalers (independent decorators who worked at home or in their own workshops). The main centre for this type of work was in nearby Augsburg, where Meissen 'blanks' were routinely decorated in imitation of the prestigious factory's style. The Seuter workshop, operated by a family of painters and goldsmiths, was probably responsible for the decoration of this box. For stylistic reasons its painted decoration has been attributed to Abraham Seuter.

362-1902