The engraved and bright-cut decoration on this box, although leaving the surface flat, is very similar to that seen in four-colour gold relief on a snuffbox in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, which is struck with the same maker’s mark. The two bear a striking likeness to an undated design in a boxmaker’s scrapbook now in the possession of the Bibliothek der Zeichenakademie Hanau. A third example, decorated in the same technique as the present box but centred with musical instruments rather than amatory trophies, appeared on the art market in 1982.

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