A gold-mounted black jasper snuff box in the shape of a turtle, probably German, 19th century

Please note the estimates for this lot are £20,000-30,000 and not as stated in the printed catalogue.

Baron Alexis de Redé and Baron Guy de Rothschild Collections, sale, Meubles et Objets d’Art provenant de l’Hôtel Lambert et du Château de Ferrières, Sotheby’s Monaco, 25/6 May 1975, lot 15

The size of this turtle, as well as the dark colour of its cleverly carved patterned shell with a less glossy surface as one would expect from black obsidian, creates the impression of a real turtle. In the late 17th century, London silversmiths in particular, mounted complete turtle shells as snuff boxes and added small silver feet, an engraved head, as well as oval mounts and a hinge at either the front or the back (rather than to the side, which is the case for the boar-shaped box, lot 36 in this sale). For a charming silver-mounted turtle shell snuff box, London, circa 1680, see Sotheby's London, 1 November 2018, lot 606.