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Snuffbox

ca.1750–60
Not on view
A similarly informal, sketchy technique occurs on other enamel boxes also painted inside the cover with a halflength female figure in dress of about 1750 or earlier.(1) Such miniatures, all undoubtedly after engravings, are common both to enamel boxes and to boxes of Meissen porcelain.(2) Another characteristic feature is the dramatically shaped stippled background in dark tones. On these grounds it is suggested that these enamel boxes also originated in Dresden. The painting inside the cover is not by the same hand as the exterior decoration.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Snuffbox
  • Date: ca.1750–60
  • Culture: German (Dresden?)
  • Medium: Enameled copper, copper-gilt mounts
  • Dimensions: H. 3.8 cm, L. 8.3 cm, D. 6.5 cm
  • Classification: Snuffboxes
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.1548
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

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Crossbow (Halbe Rüstung) with Winder (Cranequin), Johann Gottfried Hänisch the Elder German, Steel, wood, staghorn, copper alloy, hemp, wool, gold, iron alloy, German, Dresden
Crossbow (Halbe Rüstung) with Winder (Cranequin)
Crossbow by Johann Gottfried Hänisch the Elder
dated 1742
Snuffbox with a Portrait of a Woman, Papier-mâchè with horn veneer, gilt-copper alloy, vellum, tortoiseshell, French
Snuffbox with a Portrait of a Woman
French
ca. 1785
Light Crossbow (Schnepper) and Lever from the Armory of Moritzburg Castle, Steel, wood (walnut and possibly hornbeam), staghorn, horn, wool, silk, German, Dresden
Light Crossbow (Schnepper) and Lever from the Armory of Moritzburg Castle
German, Dresden
1728
Snuffbox in the form of a squirrel, Johann Andreas Bechdolff German, Hard-paste porcelain, copper gilt, German, Schrezheim
Snuffbox in the form of a squirrel
Decorator Johann Andreas Bechdolff
Manufactory Schrezheim Manufactory
ca. 1761–70
Small Crossbow (Schnepper), Probably for a Woman or Child, Johann Gottfried Hänisch the Elder German, Steel, wood (fruitwood, probably plum or cherry), staghorn, hemp, wool, gold, horn, German, Dresden
Small Crossbow (Schnepper), Probably for a Woman or Child
Johann Gottfried Hänisch the Elder
dated 1738

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