Snuffbox

Unknown

ca.1750–60 · Enameled copper, copper-gilt mounts · Robert Lehman Collection

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.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca.1750–60

Medium

Enameled copper, copper-gilt mounts

Culture

German (Dresden?)

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975