A two-coloured gold cagework and enamel snuff box, Nicolas-Toussaint Bingant, Paris, 1789

Property of an Italian private collection

A two-coloured gold cagework and enamel snuff box, Nicolas-Toussaint Bingant, Paris, 1789

oval, cagework mounts, the lid painted with two young women gossiping and seated on a bench next to a rose bush, a small dog jumping up at them, on translucent dark blue enamel over sun-ray engine-turning, within grey, blue and opalescent enamel paillon border, gold husk border and opaque white enamel ground, the sides with narrow enamel panels representing swans within fern and flowers on dark blue, gold stamped acanthus borders, the base similarly decorated but painted with a putto catching a dove, maker's mark illegible, charge mark and date letter for J.B. Kalendrin,

8.5cm., 3⅜in. wide