Small Wonders: Early Gems and Jewels

A mother of pearl casket with gold appliqué, mounts and piqué point ornament, probably Italian, circa 1730

Lot Closed

July 15, 12:05 PM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

A mother of pearl casket with gold appliqué, mounts and piqué point ornament, probably Italian, circa 1730

rectangular with bow-shaped corners, the lid and sides à jour and applied with chased gold Bérainesque openwork, the subject on the lid perhaps intended to represent Penelope with needle in hand, talking with Eurycleia and confronted by an impatient suitor, the sides with allegorical figures, also below baldequins, either standing or seated at tables, all within layers of pierced mother of pearl and gold scrollwork or diaper inhabited by masks, shells, birds, flower vases or fountains, further embellished in gold piqué point, the interior containing a fitted openwork mother of pearl tray with gold handle, the interior of the lid engraved with a flower basket flanked by grotesques, the scroll supports below chased satyr masks, gold hinges, the base scroll pierced and apparently intended to be lined with silk, unmarked

11.8cm., 4 5/8 in. wide

The well-known group of fine rococo gold and mother of pearl caskets and necessaires dating from the seventeen-forties, such as those at Waddesdon (Grandjean/Piacenti/Truman/Blunt, The James A. Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Gold Boxes and Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century, Fribourg, 1975, nos. 45-47), has long been ascribed to a South German, perhaps Augsburg, origin. Their decoration, often based on the designs of Johann Esaias Nilson (1721-1788), shows contemporary or chinoiserie figures or allegories of the Four Continents. The present example, however, is somewhat smaller, earlier and Bérainesque in decoration. The style and techniques are far more reminiscent of Neapolitan tortoiseshell, mother of pearl and gold work of similar date (see Alexis Kugel, Piqué, gold, tortoiseshell amd mother of pearl at the court of Naples, Paris, 2018, passim). Certain elements such as the grotesque masks, tasselled baldequins, plump winged cherubs, flower vases and elongated figures which all derive from the same engraved sources (such as Bérain himself, Paul Decker and Johann Christoph Weigel) are also treated in similar fashion in the present casket.