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Not currently on display at the V&A

Snuffbox

ca. 1740 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The inside of the lid is set with a miniature of a festival of Bacchus, god of wine, showing putti picking and eating an abundance of grapes. The box may have been designed to celebrate the grape harvest, given its pannier shape and the subject of the miniature.

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, bloodstone, glazed miniature in gouache.
Brief description
Chased gold snuffbox with a carved bloodstone cameo and a glazed miniature; Germany, possibly ca.1740
Physical description
A pannier-shaped gold snuffbox, chased overall with birds, flowers, animals, shells, fruiting vines and baskets of grapes and other fruit on a matted ground. The interior of the lid contains a miniature of a Bacchanalian festival.
Dimensions
  • Length: 6cm
  • Width: 4.4cm
  • Height: 4.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
Tax exemption mark, Prussia, 1809 (On the front of the bezel)
Gallery label
  • 4. Snuffbox with cameo of two profile heads, about 1740 Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.395-2008(16/11/2016)
  • Snuffbox with bloodstone cameo About 1740 The inside of the lid is set with a miniature of a festival of Bacchus, god of wine. Germany Chased gold, bloodstone and glazed miniature in gouache Formerly in the collection of Lord Wharton Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.395-2008(2009)
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Lord Wharton, London. Wartski, London.
Subjects depicted
Summary
The inside of the lid is set with a miniature of a festival of Bacchus, god of wine, showing putti picking and eating an abundance of grapes. The box may have been designed to celebrate the grape harvest, given its pannier shape and the subject of the miniature.

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
  • Truman, Charles.The Gilbert collection of gold boxes, Vol. I. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991, cat. no. 60, pp. 180-1. ISBN.0875871623
  • Schroder, Timothy. Gold boxes : from the Gilbert collection : an exhibition, Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986 28
Other numbers
  • GB 68 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1996.423 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • 1996.791.1 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • MIN 26 - Arthur Gilbert Number
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.395-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
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