The wave- and scroll-chased mounts of this handsome cagework box are set with panels of semi-translucent ‘starling’ stone, found in the Erzgebirge region around Chemnitz in eastern Germany, birthplace of Dresden Court Jeweller Johann Christian Neuber (1736–1808) and also of Dr Pohl-Ströher (1919–2016), the previous owner of this box, who spent a lifetime collecting minerals among her many other interests.
The stone was described in Neuber’s booklet for the table given to Louis Charles Auguste Le Tonnelier, Baron de Breteuil (1730–1807), by Friedrich August III, Elector of Saxony (1750–1827) in 1780 as: ‘No. 77. Pierre figuré d’un étourneau [starling], de Chemnitz’. In the present box the relatively simple mounts draw attention to the patterning of the stone. Neuber himself promoted ‘starling’ stone by using it for the centre panels of a gold box given in 1792 by Queen Charlotte (1744–1818), consort of George III (1738–1820), to her Master of the Horse, the 2nd Earl Harcourt (1736–1809).

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