The Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert collection: Gold boxes

Oval green snuffbox once owned by Frederick the Great of Prussia, about 1755. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.412-2008

Oval green snuffbox once owned by Frederick the Great of Prussia
Probably Jean Guillaume George Kruger
Germany
About 1755
Chrysoprase, gold, diamonds, hardstone and foil
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.412-2008

It is recorded that Frederick owned eight green chrysoprase snuffboxes and that this one was presented by Frederick to his brother Augustus Wilhelm. The design is probably by Jean Guillaume George Kruger, a London trained designer who moved to Berlin in 1753 and designed a series of snuffboxes in the Prussian royal collection.

This oval snuffbox is made from chrysoprase, a gemstone variety of chalcedony (a fibrous form of quartz) that contains small quantities of nickel that was used extensively in Europe until the middle of the last century. The box and cover are carved from single pieces of chrysoprase and are set with diamond, gold and hardstone scrolls, vines and flowers. The diamonds have pink, green and yellow foil placed behind them to reflect light. The sides and the base are similarly applied with relief hardstones and gems.

Chrysoprase was a particular favourite stone of Frederick the Great of Prussia. It used to be mined in Silesia, then a part of Prussia, but fell out of favour once the Silesian deposits were exhausted. Today, most of the world's supply of chrysoprase comes from Australia.

Black marble snuffbox, associated with Frederick the Great of Prussia

Black marble snuffbox, associated with Frederick the Great of Prussia
Germany
About 1765
Black marble, gold and hardstones
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.422-2008

The decoration of this box places it within the group of boxes associated with Frederick the Great of Prussia. While not set with diamonds, as are many others within this group, its encrusted hardstone flowers parallel those on the more lushly decorated box in the Louvre, Paris, and the engraved gold work is strikingly similar to that of the chrysoprase and mother of-pearl boxes, also found in this selection of boxes from the Gilbert Collection.

This oblong-shaped snuffbox comprises of eight panels of black marble encrusted with bouquets of hardstone flowers. The panels are gold bordered with scrolls, shells and foliage decorated using a hammer and a sharp tool in a method called chasing.

Circular box, about 1780. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.349-2008

Circular box
Workshop of Johann Christian Neuber
Germany
About 1780
Gold, decorated with hardstones and micromosaics
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.349-2008

Known as a 'bonbonnière', this type of box would have contained sweets to freshen the breath, rather like peppermints.

The box is attributed to the Dresden workshop of Johann Christian Neuber, while the micromosaics made from tiny pieces of coloured glass were most likely produced in the studio of Giacomo Raffaelli, one of the most talented of the mosaic makers from Rome.

The cover of the circular box is decorated with a micromosaic panel of a hound seated on the grass, with a deep blue background. On the base of the box there is a micromosaic panel of a butterfly, also on a deep blue ground, bordered by carnelian ovals and turquoise and jasper forget-me-nots. The walls have panels of lapis lazuli, some hung with wreaths of laurel in green jasper, within similar borders.

The inclusion of an Italian mosaic on a German box demonstrates the wide popularity of this medium throughout Europe.

Jewelled mother of pearl snuffbox, commissioned by Frederick the Great of Prussia

Jewelled mother of pearl snuffbox, commissioned by Frederick the Great of Prussia
Probably Daniel Baudesson
Germany
About 1775
Mother of pearl, multi-coloured gold, cut diamonds, foil, citrine, amethyst, quartz and rubies
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.413-2008

This snuffbox is one of the surviving boxes commissioned by Frederick the Great of Prussia. It was made in Berlin around 1765, possibly by Daniel Baudesson, and is notable for the variety of jewels, hardstones and precious and semi-precious materials used in its construction and decoration.

This oblong-shaped box is made from mother of pearl plaques mounted in gold in three colours, decorated using a hammer and a sharp tool which is called chasing. It is decorated with flowers and scrolls, set with circular cut diamonds, and encrusted with flowers and foliage of citrine, amethyst and quartz, all of which have foil placed behind them to reflect the light . The rim of the cover is set with diamonds, some foiled, including three large cushion-shaped diamonds and one pear-shaped diamond over a pink foil ground and ruby flowers.

Other examples that display the same technique of raised hardstone flowers can be found in the Louvre, Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Enamelled gold snuffbox for Baron Nicolaus von Korff, about 1762-66. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.344-2008

Enamelled gold snuffbox for Baron Nicolaus von Korff
Jean-Pierre Ador
Russia
About 1762-66
Gold and enamel
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.344-2008

A Russian gold snuffbox that is attributed to the celebrated Swiss craftsman Jean-Pierre Ador who immigrated to Russia in 1760. It has a grand flowing style and 'crisp' enamelling, a process using coloured powdered glass, where each colour is applied separately then heated in a kiln to fuse it to the surface before the next layer is applied.

The box was made for Baron Nicolaus von Korff (1710-1766) who was the archetypal eighteenth century soldier of fortune. Each side is decorated with engraved sunbursts around an enamelled order or coat of arms recording his commendable military career.

Korff was commissioned into the Russian army at the age of just fourteen, later rising to a position in the imperial guard. In 1742 he received the Order of Saint Anne (depicted on the left side of the box), followed two years later by the Order of Alexander Nevsky (on the right side). During the Seven Years' War, Korff was established as provincial governor of parts of Prussia for which he was invested with the Polish Order of the White Eagle (on the back). He received the Order of Saint Andrew (on the cover) and the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle (on the front) in 1762.

It is interesting to note that Korff's coat of arms appears on the base rather than the cover of the box. It may be a bit of modesty to balance the many honourable orders displayed on the other sides of the box.

Porcelain snuffbox with three compartments, about 1750. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.492-2008

Porcelain snuffbox with three compartments
Germany
About 1750
Gold, porcelain and enamel
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.492-2008

This snuffbox is unique as it is designed to hold three different types of snuff. It was made in Meissen, Germany, from hard paste porcelain and is painted in enamels. The gold mounts appear to be original and were probably made by a Dresden goldsmith.

Drawing on romantic themes there are many illustrations from Greek or Roman mythology on the sides of the box. The cover is divided in half and decorated with Mars and Minerva in wooded landscapes within a Rococo styled oval-shape of pink and yellow on a blue background. The base, interior and walls of the box are painted in a similar style, with illustrations of Leda and the swan, Venus and Cupid, Diana the Huntress, and Venus borne along by dolphins.

The interior of the lid is painted with the portraits of Carl Theodore, the Elector Palatine, in armour, wearing the sash of the Order of St Hubert, and his wife Elisabeth Auguste. These are attributed to Johann Heinrici, who was employed at the Meissen factory at this time.

Snuffboxes designed to take two or, as in this case, three different types of snuff were produced mainly as novelty items and were more common in Germany and Britain than in the rest of Europe. This box, together with an almost identical box in the Wallace Collection, might well have been intended as gifts from the Elector and his wife, or possibly, given the amorous nature of the painted subjects, as gifts to each other.

Snuffbox with diamond flowers associated with Frederick the Great of Prussia, about 1775. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.414-2008

Snuffbox with diamond flowers associated with Frederick the Great of Prussia
Berlin, Germany
About 1775
Bloodstone quartz, gold, diamonds and coloured glass
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.414-2008

This box forms part of the group of snuffboxes associated with Frederick the Great of Prussia. It was made in Berlin around 1775 and is very similar to the designs of Jean Guillaume George Kruger. The use of coloured glass is an interesting feature and has caused some speculation that there might have been a Venetian connection to its making, although Germany was at the forefront of glass technology at this time, with enamel glass being produced at Meissen and other German porcelain and glass centres.

This snuffbox is made from seventeen panels of bloodstone quartz (dark green with bright red spots) mounted in gold, set with diamonds, some coloured yellow and others with metal foil behind to reflect the light. The cover is set with a vase in coloured glass, with a bouquet of stylized flowers in emeralds, rubies and diamonds, all within a border of diamonds in gold and sprigs of glass flowers. The walls and base of the box are decorated with more sprays of flowers in coloured stones and glass.

Diamond encrusted gold snuffbox, about 1768. Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.346-2008

Diamond encrusted gold snuffbox
Unknown maker
Probably Russia
About 1768
Gold and diamonds
Museum no. Loan:Gilbert.346-2008

This jewelled and varicoloured-gold snuffbox is decorated on each surface with figures in classical landscapes in coloured gold within borders decorated within thin, parallel mouldings and entwined with foliage and flowers. The cover is encrusted with diamonds in the architectural details, with four pink diamonds that have foil behind them to reflect the light, and numerous rose diamonds around the borders.

The profusion of diamonds on this box suggest a Russian origin although the goldsmith’s work is possibly Austrian - the box is unsigned and the maker’s mark is unrecorded.

The box was presented to the Englishman Nathaniel Dimsdale by the Russian imperial family in gratitude for the medical services rendered by him and his father. Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800), an English doctor and advocate of inoculation against smallpox, was asked to visit Russia to advise the Empress, Catherine the Great, on a programme of inoculation during the Russian smallpox epidemic of 1768. Dimsdale, accompanied by his son Nathaniel (1748-1811), travelled to Russia and successfully inoculated the Empress and her son, Grand Duke Paul.

In return, Thomas Dimsdale was created a baron of the Russian empire and appointed councillor of state and physician to the Empress. In addition he received a lump sum of £10,000, an annuity of £500, a further £2,000 for his expenses, and a diamond-set portrait of Catherine and Paul. Nathaniel Dimsdale received the same title as his father and the Grand Duke also presented him with this superb snuffbox.