Snuffbox
ca.1780 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The influence of Paris extended across Europe. Pink opalescent enamel with scenes picked out in black or brown was popular in Francefor a few years only in the late 1770s. The earliest known snuffbox with such an enamel background is an example in the Louvre, Paris, dated 1776-1777 (Museum Number OA 2169). This decoration imitated the appearance of moss agate, a stone that with distinctive darker veins that resembled tree branches or moss structures.
On this box the artist renders harbour scenes and landscapes imitating the characteristic marks of the stone. This seems to be a style developed by Hanau goldsmiths until the mid 1780s – see a comparative example in the Wallace Collection, London, made in Hanau circa 1780-85 (museum no. G.88).
Having welcomed a large diaspora of French Huguenot enamellers and goldsmiths, the town of Hanau in Germany benefited from their remarkable skills and became a major production centre in the 18th century, only recognised as such recently. They were seeking to emulate the latest Parisian fashions, even copying their elaborate system of control marks.
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.
On this box the artist renders harbour scenes and landscapes imitating the characteristic marks of the stone. This seems to be a style developed by Hanau goldsmiths until the mid 1780s – see a comparative example in the Wallace Collection, London, made in Hanau circa 1780-85 (museum no. G.88).
Having welcomed a large diaspora of French Huguenot enamellers and goldsmiths, the town of Hanau in Germany benefited from their remarkable skills and became a major production centre in the 18th century, only recognised as such recently. They were seeking to emulate the latest Parisian fashions, even copying their elaborate system of control marks.
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 | Chased gold, enamelled and enamel plaque en grisaille and diamonds |
| Brief description | Oval snuffbox with plaque depicting Hector, gold, diamonds and enamel, Hanau, circa 1780 (marked) |
| Physical description | An oval, enamelled gold snuffbox, cover and base enamelled in opalescent pinkwith grisaille harbour scenes and landscapes, over an engine-turned (Guilloche) ground, bordered by opaque blue and white enamel and chased gold husks, the walls similarly decorated in opalescent pink with chased gold swags of laurel; the cover set, probably at a later date, with an enamel plaque en grisaille depicting Hector bidding farewell to his wife Andromache and son Astinax upon his departure for the Trojan Wars, bordered by rose diamonds. |
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| 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. Historical significance: The pink opalescent enamel with scenes picked out in black or brown beneath transluscent enamel was popular in France, whence the inspiration of this box clearly comes, from the late 1760s until the Revolution. One of the earliest extant examples would appear to be a box of 1768/69 by Piere Francois-Mathis de Beaulieu, now in the Musee Louvre (Grandjean, 1981, no. 19), but the greatest number date from the mid 1770s to the mid 1780s. The technique is a refined imitation of moss agate, which stone and its artificial copies were very popular in France in the eigtheenth century for its distinctive markings that resembled tree branches (see Truman, 199, cat. no. 105 and Snowman, 1990, pl. 496-97, 680). Indeed, a series of designs for imitation "aborifications" for use under glass was published by Mondere and Briceau in about 1770. The painting on the Gilbert box, and on many made in Paris, sought to reorganise the random natural markings on moss agate into a definite subject. It is, as it were, art bettering nature. |
| Production | The cover is probably set at a later date. The marks on this box are found on a fairly large number of of boxes attributed to Geneva goldsmiths of the late eighteenth century, including five boxes in the Louvre (Grandjean, 1981, nos. 547-51). Many have sp |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | Trojan wars |
| Summary | The influence of Paris extended across Europe. Pink opalescent enamel with scenes picked out in black or brown was popular in Francefor a few years only in the late 1770s. The earliest known snuffbox with such an enamel background is an example in the Louvre, Paris, dated 1776-1777 (Museum Number OA 2169). This decoration imitated the appearance of moss agate, a stone that with distinctive darker veins that resembled tree branches or moss structures. On this box the artist renders harbour scenes and landscapes imitating the characteristic marks of the stone. This seems to be a style developed by Hanau goldsmiths until the mid 1780s – see a comparative example in the Wallace Collection, London, made in Hanau circa 1780-85 (museum no. G.88). Having welcomed a large diaspora of French Huguenot enamellers and goldsmiths, the town of Hanau in Germany benefited from their remarkable skills and became a major production centre in the 18th century, only recognised as such recently. They were seeking to emulate the latest Parisian fashions, even copying their elaborate system of control marks. 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.363-2008 |
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| Record created | June 19, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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