Lot 207: TWO GERMAN PAINTED AND BLACK LACQUERED PAPIER MÂCHE TOBACCO BOXES, STOBWASSER FABRIK BRAUNSCHWEIG,

TWO GERMAN PAINTED AND BLACK LACQUERED PAPIER MÂCHE TOBACCO BOXES, STOBWASSER FABRIK BRAUNSCHWEIG, CIRCA 1820

one; the cover painted with Christ blessing the Child, No. 7833, diameter 9.8cm; the other, after Hoggarth, depicting Marriage a la Mode', No. 3234, diameter 9.4cm. (4)

CATALOGUE NOTE

Johann Heinrich Stobwasser (1740-1829), a famous 'vernisseur', succeeded in the 18th century to produce a high quality lacquer made of amber and various resins. In 1763, Stobwasser responded to the appeal of the Braunschweig Duke Carl I to establish a business in his country. The last quarter of the 18th century Stobwasser already produced various lacquered objects of which the snuffboxes were appreciated the most. After the 1768 commission for the Prussian King Friedrich II, Stobwasser went to Berlin. Together with his best painter and 'vernisseur', Jean Guérin, he started another business there. In 1818, Stobwasser's son, Christian Heinrich, took over the Berlin factory and in 1849 was succeeded by the Grandson Gustav Arnold. The Berlin factory would become one of the most impotant businesses in this city. Apart from the commissions given by the nobility, people like Goethe, Schiller and Schinkel ordered precious lacquered objects at Stobwasser's.

Literature
D. Richter, 'Lackierer der Köninge-König der Lackierer.
Die Manufaktur Stobwasser in Berlin', in: Weltkunst, vol.3, 2000, p. 464-467.
Exh. Cat. Ex Oriente Lux.
Lackkunst aus Ostasien und Europa, Cologne (Herbig-Haarhausmuseum) 1977, p. 212.