A chased gold snuff box, Frantz Bergs, Stockholm, circa 1740

A chased gold snuff box, Frantz Bergs, Stockholm

circa 1740 

cartouche-shaped, the lid chased with Venus, dressed as a Carthaginian huntress, appearing to Aeneas and pointing towards Dido's temple on the right, the landscape on a finely-matted ground flanked by cornucopia emerging from a chased leafy scroll and husk border, the slightly baluster sides with rising curved leaves on a sablé ground and dramatic scroll ornament below the raised thumbpiece, the base chased with bold flower-entwined scrolls in reeded border, the interior of the lid set with a painted miniature of a temple, possibly that of Dido, on a prepared ground, maker’s mark, further struck: 21K for 21ct gold,

6.7cm., 2 5/8 in. wide