A pearl-set gold and enamel toothpick case, Geneva or Hanau, circa 1790

Property of an Italian private collection

A pearl-set gold and enamel toothpick case, Geneva or Hanau, circa 1790

elongated rectangular with cut corners, the lid enamelled with Euterpe with a putto holding sheets of music by her side, on a sky blue ground with ruins and a fountain to the left, within dark-blue enamel and split-pearl borders, the sides and base centred with vignettes representing turtle doves in paillon frames and scrollwork, double-struck maker’s mark illegible (L?), later French hibou control mark, 8.1cm., 3 1/4 in. wide; and a small pearl-set gold and enamel box, circa 1795, oval, the lid painted with a young couple before a lake, split-pearl frame and gold and blue paillonwork on translucent dark blue ground, later set in plain gold sides and base, marked on base only, 4.7cm., 1 7/8 in. wide,

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