Property from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection
A quadruple-opening two-colour gold snuff box, M&P, probably Hanau, circa 1785
Lot Closed
May 15, 12:11 PM GMT
Estimate
7,000 - 10,000 CHF
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
elongated oval, the lid and base centred with a chased two-colour gold floral ornament on a sablé ground, the gold ground decorated with chevron engine-turning, within chased two-colour gold borders on a sablé ground, maker's mark M & P crowned within leafy sprigs,
length 8.5 cm; 3 3/8 in.
The present box belongs to a small group of high-quality boxes in multicoloured gold or enamel struck with a similar set of unidentified marks: MP and MP crowned, MP crowned over heart. The Wallace Collection owns four such boxes (Charles Truman, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Gold Boxes, (London, 2013) cat. nos 73 - 76). For another box belonging to the Alan and Simone Hartman collection with the same set of M&P marks, Sotheby’s Geneva, 14 May 2025, lot 1148.
Haydyn Williams has suggested that the boxes stylistically align most with Geneva production. However, there does not appear to have been any prominent firm in Geneva with these associated initials. Another suggestion has been the town of Hanau, also known for a large output of high quality Galanteriewaren from the late 18th to the early 19th century with a close relationship to various firms in Geneva through marriages. However, an example of an M&P box with Hanau control marks has yet to be found. Berlin has also been suggested, leaving this mystery unsolved. (H. Williams (ed.), 18th-Century Snuffboxes, Snuffboxes in the Iakobachvili Collection, Vol. 1 (Monaco, 2024), p. 266).