Thursday, March 7, 2013

Gifts of Grandeur: The Apollo Snuff Box, 1753-54



Snuff Box
1754-1754
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here, we see a rectangular jeweled and enameled gold snuff box with a depiction of Apollo flanked by three putti amid clouds on the top in a sunburst of diamonds.
The figure of Apollo is taken from an engraving by Michel-Guillaume Aubert of François Boucher's Tombeau of Charles Sackville comte de Dorset of 1741. The box’s side panels are enameled with the emblems of the Arts and Sciences.

This is the work of Jean-François Breton (or Lebreton) who was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to Etienne Pollet. In 1772, Breton became prime warden of the Paris goldsmiths guild.





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