Enamel snuff box with medallion featuring a genre scene
Enamel snuff box with medallion featuring a genre scene
France, Paris
Joseph-Étienne Blerzy
Gold, enamel, velvet (case), leather (case); en plein painted enamel, enamel over carving (basse-taille), champlevé enamel
3.4 x 8.3 x 6.3 cm
Stamped with the maker's mark of J. Blerzy; a charge or discharge mark of the fermier général (tax collector) Jean-Baptiste Fouache for the period 1774–1780; the Paris date letter "P" for 1778–1779; a charge or discharge mark of the fermier général Henri Clavel for the period 1780–1782; the Paris date letter "S" for 1781–1782; and stamped on the rim with the inventory number "786" or "787" (the numbers 6 and 7 overstruck)
Gold and enamel snuff box of oval form, featuring a hinged lid. The sides and base are decorated with panels depicting shrubs executed in grisaille. The lid features a similar oval medallion, further detailed with an oval inset painted with a scene of two young women and a man in classical (antiquated) attire. The medallions on the lid and base are framed by a simulated-pearl border, while the sides are decorated with an guilloché interlace pattern against a pink ground, containing alternating quatrefoils and beads. A similar interlace pattern adorns the outer rim of the lid, and an interlace pattern with quatrefoils runs along the perimeter of the base. Housed in its original green leather case, the interior lined with velvet.
1106.1-2MC40/ДПИ