Snuffboxes and Сigarette Сases

Snuffbox with pearl ornamentation

    Snuffbox with pearl ornamentation

    France, Paris

    1785–1786

    Joseph Etienne Blerzy

    Gold, enamel

    2.3 x 7.3 cm

    Maker’s mark, charge and discharge marks of Henry Clavel and Jean François Kalendrin, 1782– 1789, date letter P85, 1785–1786, French eagle head control mark, 1847–1919, struck twice

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    For the decoration of the borders of this box Blerzy has added opaque turquoise enamel beading to the combination of translucent green, opalescent pink and opaque white enamel. The paillon decoration is also further developed: rather than a single repeat unit, four different elements are used – a pellet, a trefoil and a quatrefoil to create the repeat pattern and an attenuated S element for the rope-twist border. As an additional embellishment the quatrefoil motif is picked out in translucent green enamel, referencing the enamelled ‘jewels’ developed at Sèvres. A box in the Wallace Collection, London, made by Blerzy at the same date, is similarly decorated with four paillon elements, one of which is highlighted in green.

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    4588.1-3MC676/ДПИ