AN AUSTRIAN ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX

Joseph Wolfgang Schmidt is recorded in Vienna 1769-1836. During the period 1801-11 he is recorded at Kohlmarkt 1218, and listed as a Galanteriearbeiter 1802-36. A gold and enamel snuff-box with paillon decoration and a central plaque depicting a Sacrifice to Venus by this rare Viennese goldsmith is in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in C. Le Corbeiller, European and American Snuff Boxes 1730-1830, London, 1966, no. 240. A jasper snuff-box with applied gold decoration and paste thumbpiece also with his maker's mark I.W.S., 1774, is illustrated op. cit., no. 458. Other boxes by his hand were sold Christie's, Geneva, 15 November 1994, lot 32, Christie's, London, 10 December 2002, lot 62, Christie's, London, 10 November 2010, lot 434, Christie's, London, 2 June 2015, lot 218 and Christie's, London, 29 November 2016, lot 1.