A three-colour gold and 'damask' enamel snuff box, Germany, circa 1775

oval, cunningly decorated in polychrome translucent enamels over engine-turning in imitation of silk damask, the lid and base with views of La Fontaine's fable of the Fox and Stork, the sides with flower sprays, on a silvery grey ground within coloured gold borders of acanthus and laurel, the sides divided by stylised swagged lyres, French prestige marks on lid and base including maker's mark JG crowned incuse flanked by crowned fleurs de lis further struck: 20K

Discreet restoration to base, right and left side panels. slight wear to gold borders particularly on base. An interesting and unusual box.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The interesting technique of simulating fabric used on this box is a development of that used in Paris in the mid 1770s to represent a leopard’s spot silk, nevertheless known as ‘émail tigré’.  An example by Charles Le Bastier of 1774/5 is illustrated by Lorenz Seelig, Golddosen des 18. Jahrhunderts aus dem Besitz der Fürsten von Thurn und Taxis, Munich, 2007, no. 12. The Louvre possesses three boxes, dating from 1774 to 1777 enamelled in the same pattern by Charles Le Bastier, Pierre-Denis Hoart and Jean Delobel (attributed to Jean Dècle), providing a perfect view of the Paris appetite for short-lived novelty.

The present box is one of a small group of similar boxes, usually enamelled with flowers on the same silvery ground over a tour de force of engine-turning which takes the Paris model one step further. Their origin is not known for certain but is most probably Hanau, well-known for its swift imitations of Paris fashions in gold boxes. Although the maker’s mark on this box is not that of one of the group of Hanau goldsmiths identified by Seelig, as signatories to the contract signed with the engine-turner Etienne Flamant in 1773, the fine-lined engine-turning is very similar to that on the plain engine-turned boxes attributed to Souchay and Fernau (‘Eighteenth century Hanau gold boxes’, Silver Society of Canada Journal, 2015, vol. 18, figs. 42 and 58).  

Another point of interest is that this box is clearly struck : 20K for 20 carat gold. In the 18th century, it was a source of pride in Geneva and also in Hanau that no gold boxes were produced below the 18 carat standard. Hanau used prestige Paris discharge marks to indicate 18 and 19 carats but one may presume that, as in Geneva, there was nothing to prevent them producing objects in 20 carat gold for a special order.