Esaias Obicker (1733–1802) was one of the five leading Hanau goldsmiths who had negotiated a deal with the Genevois Etienne Flamant in 1773 to supply him with gold boxes which he was to decorate with his revolutionary new engine turning lathe. Obicker's contribution was modest since he agreed to supply thirty boxes annually, while the Toussaint brothers were contracted to provide 160 boxes. Before that, he qualified as a goldsmith between 1756 and 1760 and is said to have worked with the Souchays before 1762 when he became independent. He was a founder member of the Bijouteriegesellschaft in 1764. He was also a subscriber to the famous Drawing Academy which opened in 1772 and, following Esaias Souchay’s retirement in 1789, he took his place there as mentor to the young. In 1797, Obicker is the first bijoutier mentioned in an article on the Hanau manufacturers of Galanteriewaren. Surviving boxes by Esaias Obicker are not common, a situation probably not helped by the comparative difficulty of deciphering his mark.

The box is accompanied by two visiting cards, one for Le Prince / Fréderic / de Saxe-Gotha and another, the name surrounded by classical ruins, for Le Prince Auguste / de Saxe-Gotha, and by a partially printed and partially handwritten invitation card inscribed: Madame Blounquet / est prié de la part / du Prince Auguste de Saxe Gotha / de lui faire l’honneur de Diner chez lui / Mardi 12 de Mai 1795 / R. S. L. P.

The Saxe were a prolific family with many branches and there are two possible candidates for ‘le Prince Auguste de Saxe-Gotha’. The first, August, Prince of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1747 1806), was a patron of the arts who gathered an enlightened and progressive circle around him at his palace at Gotha. The second, August, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1772–1822), was a colourful character with an obsessive admiration for Napoleon and author of one of the first published novels to treat of homoerotic love. On his death in 1822, he was succeeded by his brother Prince Friedrich IV (1774–1825), the last duke, who is probably the ‘Prince Fréderic’ of the visiting card. Sadly there are no clues to the identity of ‘Madame Blounquet’, although it is possible she was Maria Gertrudis van Zelder van Beveren who had married Leopoldus Franciscus Carolus Alexander de Blunkett in Kehl, Offenburg, on 16 October 1787. Whereas the invitation card gives a precise date and the visiting cards probably date from around the same period, there is no indication of when they were first treasured in the box.

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