A GERMAN ENAMELLED VARI-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX

The enamelled scenes are in the style of David Teniers the Younger (1610-90), whose paintings of village, family and tavern scenes were extremely popular with european aristocracy and therefore a source of inspiration for enamel artists particularly in France and Switzerland. However, in this instance the enamelled scenes are painted in the French 18th century taste, with domestic scenes in softer tones, much in the style of Jean-Baptiste Greuze. The quality of the decoration is more refined than would have been produced in Hanau and is comparable in style to snuff-boxes by Mathieu Coiny fils and Jean-Charles Ducrollay (see one by Coiny dated 1762-63 in the Metropolitan Museum, New York - acc. no 17.190.1112 - and one by Ducrollay dated 1759-60 in the Gilbert Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London - acc. No 310-1885).

In the 1978 catalogue, the box was catalogued as Louis XVI and the enamelled scenes were attributed to Pierre de Maillé who worked in Paris from 1748 to 1785.