View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1118. A gold and enamel snuff box, Geneva, circa 1780, the enamel by Jean-Louis Richter.

Property from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection

A gold and enamel snuff box, Geneva, circa 1780, the enamel by Jean-Louis Richter

Lot Closed

May 16, 02:28 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 CHF

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Lot Details

Description

oval, the lid painted en plein with a shepherd and shepherdess and cows by a lake, against a mountainscape and a hazy sky, a watermill to the left, signed Richter to lower left, framed with interlaced floral and swag borders in black, white and pale blue taille d'épargne enamel, the sides and base with matching decoration around a dark blue enamel ground, the base painted en plein with a young shepherd and shepherdess next to a lamb, within gold and pale blue paillon borders, maker's mark MC incuse

8.5cm., 3 3/8 in. wide

Christie's London, 25 May 2004, lot 135

For another variation of the subject, including a nearly identical watermill as in the present lot, see another signed enamel painting by Jean-Louis Richter on a gold box by Rémond, Lamy & Co., Geneva, 1801-1804, sold Replica Shoes 's London, 22 May 2019, lot 466.

The maker of this box with the initials MC is yet to be identified, however stylistically there is no doubt about a Geneva origin, especially when comparing it to another gold and enamel box, formerly also in the Hartman collection (Sotheby's New York, 17 June 2024, lot 111): the composition of the base with the painted enamel roundel and the striking blue paillon wreath, in combination with a not dissimilar maker's mark MW incuse, suggest that the same makers may have been involved in different partnerships in Geneva. This was certainly the case for Jean George Remond and the many different business partnership he established with different goldsmiths throughout his long career.