Lot 40
  • 40

A gold and enamel snuff box

Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
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Description

  • width 9.5cm, 3 3/4 in
maker's mark M crowned incuse only, Geneva, circa 1805



rectangular with cut corners, the lid inset with an enamel plaque painted with a curious subject of peasants escorting a hay wain near the temple of Venus at Baalbec, chased demi-sun and leaf tip frame, the sides and base enamelled in translucent blue over stylised leaf motifs, taille d' épargne borders, the interior of the lid with later presentation inscription,

Provenance

The inscription reads: Louise Sassoon/ from/ Reuben Sassoon/ 19th January 1898  (Reuben David Sassoon,  (1835-1909)  was a close friend of the Prince of Wales; his daughter Louise (1873-1964) married Sir Charles Cavendish Boyle in 1914.

 

Catalogue Note

The ruins of Baalbec were painted and engraved by many artists beginning with that intrepid traveller Robert Wood who published his Ruins of Balbec otherwise Heliopolis in 1757.