Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A gold snuff box, probably English, circa 1720, of rectangular form, richly decorated throughout, the hinged cover chased with two huntsmen and a hound, against a granulated stippled sky, within a frame of engraved scrolls and shells, the cartouche border further chased with deer and hounds, the reverse with a riverside scene of a crane wrestling a serpent, another crane in flight above, the scene similarly framed, and edged with flowerhead latticework and architectural details, unmarked, length 7.9cm. £6,000-£8,000

Literature:
Snowman A K: 18th Century Gold boxes of Europe, pub. ACC, 1990, page 261, plate 533, illustrating a comparable example, possibly from the same workshops, depicting a scene from one of Aesop’s fables, The Fox and The Crow.