Live Auction 20036Two Private Collections of European Ceramics, Gold Boxes and Silver
A GERMAN ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
Lot 13

A GERMAN ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX

PROBABLY FRANCOIS-CLAUDE THEREMIN AND JEAN-LOUIS JORDAN, HANAU, CIRCA 1790; MARKED WITH A CROWNED T AND J, A LAUREL BRANCH AND A PALM LEAF, STAMPED 709 ON FLANGE

Closed16 December 2021

Price Realised

GBP 12,500

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A GERMAN ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX
PROBABLY FRANCOIS-CLAUDE THEREMIN AND JEAN-LOUIS JORDAN, HANAU, CIRCA 1790; MARKED WITH A CROWNED T AND J, A LAUREL BRANCH AND A PALM LEAF, STAMPED 709 ON FLANGE
Oval box, the cover, sides and base set with panels enamelled in dark blue over reeded engine-turning scattered with pellets, within slightly raised foliate and berried enamelled sablé borders, the cover set with an enamel plaque depicting Mars crowning Venus with a wreath within an enamelled beaded frame, with later leather fitted case

Property of a gentleman; Sotheby's, Zurich, 7 November 1975, lot 3 (CHF 7,000).

Specialist note


This maker's mark believed to be that of François-Claude Theremin and Jean-Louis Jordan can be found on several snuff-boxes held in museums notably the Louvre Museum (see No.s 578, 579 and 580 in S. Grandjean, Les Tabatières, boîtes et étuis des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles du Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1981) and the Musée Cognacq-Jay (see No.s 74 and 75 in J.de Los Llanos and C. Gregoire, Boîtes en or et objets de vertu, Paris, 2011).
François-Claude Theremin, Jean-Guillaume-Georges Krüger's son in law, set up in Berlin with André et Jean-Louis Jordan a 'fabrique de jouaillerie et de bijouterie', bringing artisans from Geneva and Paris. In 1794, he joined his brother Pierre's workshop making enamelled gold boxes in the neoclassical Swiss style.

This box, like the ones held in the Louvre and Cognaq-Jay, is set with an enamel plaque painted with an allegorical love scene in the style of Jean-Baptiste Greuze and François Boucher. The scene featured here depicts Venus and Mars exchanging vows. Venus was the goddess of love and beauty who attracted many suitors, gods and mortals alike. Married to the graceless and lame Vulcan, the god of fire, her true love was Mars, the god of war. Their child was the goddess Harmonia. Ultimately they were caught in an invisible but strong net forged by Vulcan, and exposed to the ridicule and laughter of the other gods at Mount Olympus.