Live Auction 7850Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
AN IMPERIAL FRENCH PARCEL-ENAMELLED GOLD PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
Lot 307

AN IMPERIAL FRENCH PARCEL-ENAMELLED GOLD PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE

THE BOX BY LOUIS-FRANÇOIS TRONQUOY (FL. 1827-1871), MARKED, WITH THE FRENCH POST-1838 STANDARD MARK FOR 18 CARAT GOLD, THE FLANGE STAMPED WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 122 AND INSCRIBED 'G. LEMONNIER. JOAILLIER DE LA COURONNE PLACE VENDÔME, 25.', LATER STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD THE MINIATURE BY GABRIEL-ARISTIDE PASSOT (FRENCH, 1797-1875), SIGNED

Closed10 June 2010

Price Realised

GBP 37,250

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AN IMPERIAL FRENCH PARCEL-ENAMELLED GOLD PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
THE BOX BY LOUIS-FRANÇOIS TRONQUOY (FL. 1827-1871), MARKED, WITH THE FRENCH POST-1838 STANDARD MARK FOR 18 CARAT GOLD, THE FLANGE STAMPED WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 122 AND INSCRIBED 'G. LEMONNIER. JOAILLIER DE LA COURONNE PLACE VENDÔME, 25.', LATER STRUCK WITH TWO PARISIAN POST-1838 WARRANTY MARKS FOR GOLD
THE MINIATURE BY GABRIEL-ARISTIDE PASSOT (FRENCH, 1797-1875), SIGNED
Rectangular box with rounded corners, the cover centred by a glazed oval miniature on ivory depicting Emperor Napoleon III of France (1808-1873), in the blue uniform of a Général de Brigade, wearing the breast-star, badge and red moiré sash of the Imperial French Order of the Legion of Honour and the French Military Medal, signed 'Passot' (mid-right), within translucent blue guilloché enamelled border, four blue-enamelled flower-chased medallions decorating the spandrels, the cover, sides and base chased with polished gold strapwork and scrolling foliage on matted ground
3½ in. (90 mm.) wide

René Fribourg Collection; Part IV, Sotheby's, New York, 14 October 1963, lot 241 (450 gbp to S.J. Phillips).

Specialist note

Gabriel-Aristide Passot became a knight of the Legion of Honour in 1862. He was appointed court miniaturist to Emperor Napoleon III of France. A Swiss gold boîte-à-miniature set with a portrait miniature of Empress Eugénie also signed by Passot, circa 1860, formerly in the Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection, was sold Christie's, London, 11 April 2002, lot 804. Another miniature of Emperor Napoleon III by Passot is in the Dutch Royal Collection, for more information see K. Schaffers-Bodenhausen and M. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, The Portrait Miniatures in the Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau, Zwolle, 1993, illustrated in colour p. 246, no. 263.