This box is a conundrum. The lid is inset with an ivory medallion of Empress Anna Ivanovna (1693–1740), probably from a suite of portraits of Romanov rulers that was carved in the later eighteenth century and intended to be mounted on caskets or small pieces of furniture. The base is set with an openwork ivory panel, carved by another hand, that incorporates emblems relating to alchemy, among them a shield with the Seven Planetary Metals and an obelisk with the Chain of Homer. Why were these two plaques combined by a Parisian goldsmith in the 1780s? And how to account for the box being taken to Uruguay and given by Major Charles Orde (1776–1810) to a fellow officer following the siege of Montevideo during the Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808)?

minimize...