In this musical box, the sides are appropriately pierced and enamelled to resemble lyres. Jean Louis Richter (1766–1841), one of the pre-eminent enamel painters of his generation, was born in Geneva, the son of Jean Just Richter, habitant, and his wife, Françoise Pellaton, natif, of the city. For six years from 1778 he studied under the brothers Philippe Samuel (1756–1805) and David Etienne Roux (1758–1832), both enamel painters of repute. Richter appears to have specialised in landscapes – often capriccio compositions such as on the present box, some of which were loosely inspired by prints depicting Swiss topography or the sun-drenched idylls of Claude Joseph Vernet (1714–1789). Richter was also a skilled painter of floral still lives. When used, his signature comprised either his family name, ‘Richter’, as seen on the present work, or ‘Richter pinxit’. Later in his career another variant was used, ‘Richter & Troll’, indicating a partnership with another Geneva enamel painter, Aimé Julien Troll (1781–1852). Elements of the composition are freely derived from an etching Les Moulins de Gravins, one of a collection of views by Louis Albert Guillain, Baron Bacler d’Albe (1761–1848). This mill seems to have been a favourite of Richter’s

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