The rendering of the chased decoration on the base of this snuffbox is identical to that found on other examples, which are struck with the maker’s mark of the firm of Souchay & Colin. The chasing of the lid panel, however, differs in its sculptural vigour. As the form of cornucopia and foliate scrolls it describes is more in keeping with the mid-1820s than earlier, it is probable that it was at this date that the original snuffbox was set with a new panel to frame the micromosaic. The composition is based upon Landscape with Rebecca Taking Leave of Her Father by Claude Gellée, called Le Lorrain (Claude Lorrain, c.1600–1682). It was painted for Angelo Giorio (1586–1662), chamberlain of Pope Urban VIII (1568–1644) and one of the artist’s most important early patrons. The landscape paintings of Claude Lorrain, as well as those of the Neapolitan Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), were greatly admired in the eighteenth century and were avidly collected, by the English in particular. By replicating these landscapes in miniature, Roman micromosaic artists could be confident that the subject matter would appeal to the tourists visiting the Eternal City. Inevitably, given the extreme reduction in scale, some details of the oil paintings were omitted.

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