Snuffbox thumbnail 1
Snuffbox thumbnail 2
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Snuffbox

ca. 1785 (made)
Artist/Maker
M&P (maker)
Place of origin
Geneva (made)

The manufacture of complex automata and musical movements was a specialty of the craftsmen of Geneva. By 1788, Geneva was at the centre of a trade which numbered nearly 1,500 watchmakers, goldsmiths, jewellers and enamellers. A combination of high skill, international salesmanship and competitive pricing made Genevan work successful in Europe, the Ottoman Empire and the Far East. The girl-on-a-tightrope automaton was a particularly popular one.

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
Snuffbox
Materials and techniques
Gold, enamel, automaton mechanism, carillon, glass
Gold
Enamel
Glass
Chasing
Enamelling
Brief description
An oval, enamelled varicoloured-gold automaton musical snuffbox chased in four-colour gold, the cover with an automated girl dancing on a tightrope
Physical description
An oval, enamelled varicoloured-gold automaton musical snuffbox chased in four-colour gold. The cover has an automated girl dancing on a tightrope within a columned alcove hung with husks and with vases of flowers. The ground is enamelled in opaque sky blue, apple green, and is also marbled. The top is entirely covered in glass. The base is chased with a trophy of musical instruments within an architectural caprice hung with swags of flowers, foliage, and a chandelier. On the walls of this setting are four musical trophies in reserves hung with pierced husks and divided by double pilasters pierced for sound with chevrons, and with rosettes between. The snuffbox has a four-bell musical carillon.
Dimensions
  • Depth: 4.2cm
  • Width: 8.1cm
  • Height: 6.3cm
Measured 29/01/24 IW
Marks and inscriptions
M & P crowned in a shaped shield between scrolling foliage. (Maker's or sponsor's mark struck inside the base of the snuff compartment.)
Gallery label
(2024)
Musical snuffbox with girl dancing on tightrope
About 1785

Probably Hanau, Germany, M & P (active about 1770-85, goldsmiths)
Gold, enamel, automaton mechanism, carillon and glass
From the collection of Henry Ford II (1917–87)
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.383-2008
(2009)
Musical snuffbox with girl dancing on tightrope
About 1785

Geneva, Switzerland; maker’s mark M & P
Chased and enamelled gold, automaton mechanism, carillon and glass
From the collection of Henry Ford II (1917–87)
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.383-2008
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; Henry Ford II (1917-87); Sale Highly Important French Furniture, Decorations, Porcelain, Works of Art & Gold Boxes. From the Collection of Henry Ford II, Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, 25 February 1978 (afternoon session 2pm), lot 4.
Subjects depicted
Dancers
Columns (Architectural Elements)
Trophies
Flowers
Foliage
Summary
The manufacture of complex automata and musical movements was a specialty of the craftsmen of Geneva. By 1788, Geneva was at the centre of a trade which numbered nearly 1,500 watchmakers, goldsmiths, jewellers and enamellers. A combination of high skill, international salesmanship and competitive pricing made Genevan work successful in Europe, the Ottoman Empire and the Far East. The girl-on-a-tightrope automaton was a particularly popular one.

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 references
  • Chapuis, Alfred and Edouard Gélis. Le monde des automates: Etude historique et technique. 2 vols. Paris, 1928. Ill. 326.
  • Habsburg-Lothringen, Géza von. Gold boxes from the collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert. R. & A. Gilbert, 1983. 125 p., ill. Cat. no. 2, p. 21. ISBN.0961039809.
  • Important English & Continental Silver & Objects of Vertu. Sotheby's, New York, October 23, 2006 (N08236). Lot 124, pp. 78-81.
  • Truman, Charles. The Gilbert Collection of Gold Boxes, Vol. I. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1991, cat. no. 121, pp. 348-9. ISBN.0875871623
  • Schroder, Timothy, ed. The Gilbert Collection at the V&A. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, p. 61, plate 46. ISBN9781851775934
  • Zech, Heike. Gold Boxes. Masterpieces from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection. London: V&A Publishing, 2015, pp. 128-129, no. 46. ISBN 987-1-85177-840-9
  • Schroder, Timothy. Gold boxes : from the Gilbert collection : an exhibition, Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986 39
Other numbers
  • GB 53 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1996.412 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • 1996.791.1 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • MIN 26 - Arthur Gilbert Number
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.383-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O156472/snuffbox-mp/
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