Lot 49: A SWISS VARI-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A DIAMOND-BORDERED ENAMEL MINIATURE

Geneva, circa 1770/1775, bearing prestige marks, the flange struck with inventory number 424, the miniature by Pierre-François Marcinhès (1739-1778)
Oval box, the cover, sides and base centred with oval panels of sablé gold framed by flutes, the sides and base with oval reserves chased in four-colour gold with trophies of music and gardening within fluted borders, the lid centred by an oval enamel miniature depicting a young lady in fur-bordered red coat, green dress with lace-underdress, purple silk choker, long green scarf with gold tassels and purple plume in her curled upswept hair, within translucent green guilloché enamel border within rose-cut diamond frame with ribbon and bow cresting, all centres flanked by garlands of roses boldly chased in four-colour gold; fitted tooled red leather case lined with white silk and green plush
2 3/4 in. (72 mm.) wide (2)

Purportedly presented by Empress Catherine the Great of Russia to Camille de Labensky, Russian Ambassador at the court of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Thence by descent to Count Klinckowström.
German Trade, Munich.

An old handwritten paper at the inside indicates that this box was carried by Prince Alexander of Hesse after his return from St. Petersburg on behalf of Empress Catherine the Great in order to be presented to her old and faithful servant Camille de Labensky.
An enamel miniature depicting Empress Catherine the Great by Marcinhès, signed and dated 1771 on the counter-enamel, and within a similar green enamelled surround, is in the Fitzwilliam Museum (see R. Bayne-Powell, Catalogue of Portrait Miniatures in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridge, 1985, p. 155).

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