A GERMAN ROCOCO MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND GOLD SILK PURSE

Although decorated mother-of-pearl is more usually associated with Augsburg, attention should be drawn to a snuff-box in the Reiss-Museum, Mannheim (RMM 1974/5LBW) by Jacob Breton. Possibly the brother of the Parisian goldsmith Jean-François Breton, Jacob was goldsmith to the court at Mannheim in 1748-1749 and the box which dates from this period is signed 'Breton a Mannheim'. See 'Kunst und Kunsthandwerk Neuerwerbungen 1974-1978', Reiss-Museum Mannheim, 1981, no. 37.