Lot 29: A SWISS JEWELLED AND ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE

A SWISS JEWELLED AND ENAMELLED GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
GENEVA, CIRCA 1780, WITH PRESTIGE MARKS INCLUDING CROWNED INITIALS J AND T AND CROSSED BRANCHES, THE FLANGE STRUCK WITH INVENTORY NO. 242, THE MINIATURE BY JEAN PETITOT (SWISS, 1607-1691), CIRCA 1670
oval box, the panels on cover, sides and base engine-turned with a wavy moiré pattern scattered with pellets and enamelled with translucent plum-colour framed by gold flutes, the lid centred by an oval enamel on gold miniature depicting King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) in the attire of a Roman emperor with purple cloak fastened at his left shoulder with a jewelled clasp, blue coat and gold tassels, long curly brown wig, within a gold mount, the miniature and all enamel panels framed by matted gold bands applied with garlands of translucent green enamelled leaves and translucent red enamelled flowerheads twisted with white enamel bead strands, the petals of the flowerheads at the outer border of the lid studded with old-cut diamonds, the four matted gold side wall dividers enamelled with white beads and translucent green leaves
3 5/16 in. (84 mm.) wide

The Marquess of Bath, Longleat House; Christie's, London, 13 June 2002, lot 461.

PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF LONGLEAT

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
Four similar enamelled gold boxes by this unidentified goldsmith are in the Louvre, illustrated in S. Grandjean, Les tabatières du musée du Louvre , Paris, 1981, pp. 355-356, 362-363, 444-445, nos. 563, 578, 579 and 580, the latter also incorporating a Petitot enamel.
Other enamels by Petitot depicting the Sun King dressed ' à la Romaine ' are illustrated in K. E. Schaffers-Bodenhausen/M. E. Tiethoff-Spliethoff, The Portrait Miniatures in the Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau , Zwolle, 1993, p. 220, nos. 215 and 216, and in G. Reynolds, The Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen , London, 1999, pp. 236-237, nos. 295-297.