A gold, tortoiseshell and enamel snuff box, Pierre-Andre Montauban, bear's head 3e titre, Paris garantie 1798-1809, of elongated oval form, the lid inset with three antique gold coins, under glass on each side, within narrow blue enamel frames, the interior gold-lined, width 9.5cm, 3.25in, Provenance, Jean-Jacques Regis de Cambaceres, duc de Parme (Montpellier 1753 - Paris 1824);, his great-nephew, comte Delair de Cambaceres;, from whom acquired by a collector, sale, Sotheby's Geneva, 12 November 1985, lot 407;, acquired by Professor Dr Anton C.R. Dreesman (inv. no. F-156) and sold by his heirs, Christie's London, 11 April 2002, lot 892, Jean-Jacques de Cambaceres was born into a family of the legal nobility. He was a supporter of the French Revolution but opposed the execution of Louis XVI on legal grounds, and left politics during the excesses of the Terror. In 1799, he supported the coup which brought Napoleon to power as First Consul; he took the position of Second Consul. (The three Consuls were popularly known as "Qui, Quae et Quod", - Napoleon being Napoleon, Cambaceres making no secret of his sexual orientation, and the Third Consul Lebrun, an elderly financier.) During this period, he drew up a new civil code of law, later called the Code Napoleon, through which his influence can still be seen today. Upon NapoleonÕs proclamation of the Empire, Cambaceres accepted office as Arch-Chancellor of the Empire and President of the Senate, becoming in fact if not in name the domestic ruler of France as the Emperor was increasingly occupied with military affairs. Although initially exiled after Napoleon's fall, his earlier opposition to Louis XVIÕs execution caused him to be treated less harshly than might be expected, and he was allowed to return to France in 1818 and live quietly but luxuriously until his death in 1824, The gold coins inserted into the lid of this box include a Roman aureus of Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180), the reverse with Apollo; a Roman aureus of Antoninus Pius (AD 138-161), the reverse with Fides, and in the centre an Ostrogothic solidus in the name of Justinian I (AD 526-565), the reverse with an angel holding a cross
