179
An unusual gold and enamel snuff box, probably French, 19th century,
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Description
An unusual gold and enamel snuff box, probably French, 19th century,
rectangular, all sides decorated with subjects from Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables, in dark green and blue basse-taille enamel, on an engraved gold ground, each fable framed by a dark blue basse-taille ribbon intertwined with branches, gold lined, apparently unmarked apart from later French hibou control marks,
length 8.9 cm; 3 1/2 in.
Provenance
Bernard Franck Collection, Paris, early 20th century;
Sotheby's New York, 16 April 2015, lot 150
Catalogue note
M. Bernard Franck (1848-1924) was an industrialist specialising in the manufacture of military equipment. His first collection of arms, uniforms, and military insignia, was very much influenced by his profession, but soon he expanded into collecting miniatures, objects of vertu and historical relics. At the Exposition Universelle in 1900, the display of carnets and etuis from the Franck collection was acquired by J.P. Morgan for the Metropolitan Museum. After the collector’s death, much of the collection was dispersed in a series of five sales in the early 1930s. In the first catalogue, of objets de vitrine, Henry Nocq wrote that Bernard Franck 'was without doubt one of the most determined collectors of the modern day, but determined with discernment'.
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An unusual gold and enamel snuff box, probably French, 19th century,
rectangular, all sides decorated with subjects from Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables, in dark green and blue basse-taille enamel, on an engraved gold ground, each fable framed by a dark blue basse-taille ribbon intertwined with branches, gold lined, apparently unmarked apart from later French hibou control marks,
length 8.9 cm; 3 1/2 in.
Provenance
Bernard Franck Collection, Paris, early 20th century;
Sotheby's New York, 16 April 2015, lot 150
Catalogue note
M. Bernard Franck (1848-1924) was an industrialist specialising in the manufacture of military equipment. His first collection of arms, uniforms, and military insignia, was very much influenced by his profession, but soon he expanded into collecting miniatures, objects of vertu and historical relics. At the Exposition Universelle in 1900, the display of carnets and etuis from the Franck collection was acquired by J.P. Morgan for the Metropolitan Museum. After the collector’s death, much of the collection was dispersed in a series of five sales in the early 1930s. In the first catalogue, of objets de vitrine, Henry Nocq wrote that Bernard Franck 'was without doubt one of the most determined collectors of the modern day, but determined with discernment'.
Fabergé, Gold Boxes, Vertu & Imperial Works of Art
Sale Date(s)
Venue Address
34-35 New Bond Street
London
W1A 2AA
United Kingdom
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