Live Auction 14226Opulence: Silver, Gold Boxes, 19th Century Furniture & Works of Art
A LOUIS XV VARI-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX
Lot 18

A LOUIS XV VARI-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX

BY PIERRE CERNEAU (FL. 1762-1783), MARKED, PARIS, 1764/1765, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768, STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD

Closed6 June 2017

Price Realised

GBP 27,500

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A LOUIS XV VARI-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX
BY PIERRE CERNEAU (FL. 1762-1783), MARKED, PARIS, 1764/1765, WITH THE CHARGE AND DECHARGE MARKS OF JEAN-JACQUES PREVOST 1762-1768, STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 RESTRICTED WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD
oval box, the cover and base set with sablé panels with chased vari-colour gold trophies, flowers, foliage and a basket of fruit, within wreath and foliate frames and borders of polished gold, the sides of vari-colour gold and hung with husks between fluting, with chased husk and flowerhead outer sablé borders
3 in. (77 mm.) wide
4½ oz. (140 gr.)

Specialist note

Pierre Cerneau was sponsored by the celebrated box maker Noël Hardivilliers when he became master in 1762. At that date he was living on the pont au Change in Paris but had moved to the quai Pelletier by 1766. He had moved again by 1774 to the sign of the Maltese Cross on the pont St Michel, where he remained until his death. Boxes by this goldsmith are extremely rare. There is an enamelled box from 1763 in the Wallace Collection, previously thought by Charles Truman to be the only recorded example of Cerneau's work. See Charles Truman, The Wallace Collection of Gold Boxes, London, 2013, pp. 142-143.