A gold and enamel snuff box, Jean-Joseph Barrière, 1776/1777

Fashionable again at the time of writing this catalogue entry, the present box falls neatly in the height of the extravagant fashion of leopard or tiger fur in enamel in the mid-1770s in Paris. Trends in certain styles of gold box decoration made in Paris from the mid-eighteenth century until the Revolution were often short-lived, only lasting for a couple of seasons. As a result and not dissimilar to today, sought-after makers such as Barrière or Blerzy to quickly adapt to the market’s demands by constantly inventing or turning to new designs. The extravagant imitation of leopard – or cheetah fur, as in the present box – in enamel, however, was so successful that it was revived again and, with slight modifications in design, lasted for several seasons.

Du petit Dunkerque, the most fashionable and high-quality luxury goods shop at the time in Paris which was owned by the famous merchand-mercier Charles-Raymond Granchez, specifically advertised ‘bonbonnières en or et émail tigrées’ in 1777 (Lorenz Seelig, Golddosen des 18. Jahrhunderts aus dem Besitz der Fürsten von Thurn und Taxis, Munich, 2007, no. 12, p. 182).

A few circular bonbonnieres enamelled in leopard-fur pattern by another eminent Paris maker, Joseph-Etienne Blerzy, are recorded, such as an example made two years prior to the present lot (Sotheby Parke Bernet, Zurich, 23 November 1978, lot 22). Another famous Parisian box maker, Jean Delobel, also used the pattern for a bonbonniere centred with green enamel rosettes (Sotheby’s London, 9 November 2000, lot 72). A leopard enamel gold box by Charles Le Bastier, Paris, is dated 1774/1775 and belongs to the Thurn and Taxis Collection (Lorenz Seelig, op. cit, Munich, 2007, cat. no. 12, p. 182). Furthermore, a glamorous leopard enamel box by Blerzy was part of the collection of Mayer Carl von Rothschild and stayed in the family until the late twentieth century (sold Replica Shoes ’s Paris, Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume I: Chefs-d’oeuvre, 11 October 2020, lot 60).

One earlier example by Jean-François Defer, 1766 (Fig. 1), now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, seems to be the only exception predating the aforementioned boxes from the mid to late 1770s. The latest recorded bonbonniere decorated in dark leopard spots was made by Louis Lacarrière, Paris, as late as 1783 (A. Kenneth Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, London, 1990, plate 478, p. 233).