A Gold and Enamel Snuff Box, Frères Toussaint, Hanau, Circa 1805
No reserve
Auction Closed
October 16, 06:35 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
rectangular with cut corners, the lid set with an enamel painting of Beatrice Cenci after Ginevra Cantofoli, dressed as a sybil, against a pale grey background, in a gold zig-zag frame, on a translucent blue enamel ground flanked by bold leafy ornaments in gold and black taille d'épargne, the sides and base similarly decorated around dark blue enamel panels over chevron engine turning
Length 3 ⅜ in.
8.8 cm
Christie's London, 6 December 2005, lot 23 (The Property of a European Lady)
When the next generation took over the Hanau firm of Charles (1720–1790) and Pierre Etienne Toussaint (1726–1806), the LFT maker's mark was replaced with two different ones - GT incuse for Gebrüder Toussaint (see for example the previous lot in this sale) and the mark on the present box and the following lot in this sale: overlapping curved capital initials FT in a shield, for Frères Toussaint.
The French and the German versions of the name and the corresponding mark of the firm now led by Ludwig (Louis) Otto (1766–1825), Karl (Charles) Jacob (1768–1813) and Henry Philippe Daniel Toussaint (1774–1840) appear to have been used in parallel until 1825. This was possibly owed to the bilingual nature of the business (and the family), as well as an increased demand to adapt to different markets and patrons during the French occupation in Hanau (A. Starp, 'Grosse Bijouterie in Hanau in the early 19th century', in Haydn Williams, 19th-century Snuff Boxes: The David and Mikhail Iakobachvili Collection, vol II, London, 2025, p. 218).
You May Also Like
