Two Gold and Micromosaic Snuff Boxes, Frères Jordan, Berlin, and Friedrich Otto Toussaint, Hanau, early 19th Century
No reserve
Auction Closed
October 16, 06:35 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
the first, Frères Jordan, Berlin, circa 1805, cut-cornered rectangular, the lid later set with a Roman micromosaic plaque of the Temple of Vesta and the waterfalls at Tivoli, in a raised gold frame, the sides chased with anthemion, the base with reeded lozenge engine-turning, sundial mark within sprigs to base, the right rim numbered: 6810
Length 2 1/2 in.
6.5 cm.;
the second, Friedrich Otto Toussaint, Hanau, circa 1825, rectangular, the lid later set with a Roman micromosaic plaque representing a wanderer approaching the temple of Minerva, in a raised gold frame, the baluster sides and base chased and engine-turned in two-coloured golds, maker's mark FOT, Hanau shield mark, rosette, Hesse lion mark, the left rim numbered: 3191
Length 3 ⅛ in.
7.9 cm
Recent research has revealed that three generations of the Toussaint family were involved in the bijouterie trade in Hanau, continuing the successful business that Charles Toussaint (1720-1790) and Pierre-Etienne Toussaint (1726-1803/1806) had set up in the mid-eighteenth century.
Indeed the mark on the present box is composed of the initials FOT for Friedrich Otto Toussaint (1802–1878), son of Ludwig Otto and Henriette Marie Toussaint and a grandson of the bijoutier Pierre Etienne Toussaint.
Friedrich Otto became a Bürger in Neu-Hanau in 1825, the same year that his father died. He appears to have continued the Toussaint firm until the early 1830s; documents relating to his wedding in 1834 record him as a Partikulier (‘man of independent means’). So far, a handful of other gold boxes struck with his mark and dating to circa 1830 are known (see Alexandra Starp, ‘Grosse Bijouterie in Hanau in the early 19th century’, in Haydn Williams, 19th-century Snuffboxes: The David and Mikhail Iakobachvili Collection, vol II, London, 2025, p. 219).
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