A GOLD AND HARDSTONE-MOUNTED VIENNA PORCELAIN SNUFF-BOX AND COVER

A very similar box of the same form in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, is signed L. v. Luck in violet-blue on the interior, and is illustrated by Barbara Beaucamp-Markowsky, ibid., Fribourg, 1985, p. 251, no. 202, where it is attributed to Vienna. Johann Christoph Ludwig Lück (or Lücke, circa 1703-1780) was primarily a sculptor (mainly in ivory), but at various points in his career he worked for porcelain factories as a modeller. He was appointed Modell-Meister at Meissen in April 1728, but was dismissed in 1729. After returning to sculpting ivory he worked at Vienna briefly between 1750 and 1751,1 before moving on to Fürstenberg and other factories.

1. Surviving documents didn’t record his departure until July 1752, see J. Folnesics and E.W. Braun, Geschichte der K. K. Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur, Vienna, 1907, p. 63.