Estate / Collection: Property of a New York Collector

Apparently Les Frères Toussaint, Hanau, circa 1775, with partial maker's mark, rosette, and bird's head standard mark on bezel

Oval, the hinged cover centering a grisaille enamel portrait of Empress Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796) on a pink ground, after Feodor Rokotov, within an old-mine cut diamond border, amid engraved flowers and C-scrolls on a translucent green enamel ground, the outer border with cushion and pear-shaped old-mine cut diamonds, the sides with panels of translucent green enamel over chased allegorical scenes, bordered by panels of enameled and chased Cupids and foliage, the base centering a panel of translucent green enamel over a chased allegorical scene, bordered by chased flowers and scrollwork. Width 3 1/4 inches (8.25 cm).

Provenance:

By repute, The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.

Robert Lehman Collection, New York.

Acquired by the family of the present owner in the 1970s.

Literature:

A.K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, 1966, no. 667.

The present snuff box fitted with a portrait of Empress Catherine the Great (1762-1796) is likely to have been a presentation gift from the Russian Empress. Since the reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725), Russian sovereigns presented gifts with their images, in keeping with the practice elsewhere in Europe. Portrait gifts were presented both to Russian citizens, to express appreciation and gratitude, and to foreigners, typically for diplomatic reasons. The tradition of awarding snuff boxes in Russia reached its peak during the reign of Catherine, who was known for her love of jewelry and objects of vertu. According to Olga Kostjuk, “Catherine followed the established tradition granting gold boxes in appreciation of services for both an official or more private nature: affairs of the state and of the heart. Snuffboxes were sometimes used for passing intimate letters, in which case they were frequently decorated with allegorical compositions featuring Cupids.” (T. Murdoch & H. Zech, Going for Gold. Craftsmanship and Collecting of Gold Boxes, Eastbourne, 2014, p. 128). The value of an imperial gift like a snuff box, Kostjuk continues, was more significant than just its materials. “[It] also reflected the degree of closeness to the monarch. A snuffbox with an image of Catherine presented by the Empress herself might be perceived as a much more important gift than the grant of an estate.” (T. Murdoch & H. Zech, op. cit., p. 129).

According to Kenneth Snowman (A.K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, 1966, no. 667), the present Catherine the Great portrait snuff box was in the collection of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg before it found its way onto the Western art market. While this part of its provenance cannot be substantiated, its ownership in the twentieth century can be traced to the Robert Lehman Collection, one of the most exceptional private art collections in the United States. Most of Lehman’s collection, which includes other important European snuff boxes, was a bequest to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York following his death in 1969. The Catherine the Great box was in Lehman’s collection as early as 1962, according to Lehman’s papers archived by the museum, and it was published by Snowman in 1966. Following Lehman’s death, the works in his collection which were not part of the bequest to the museum went to family members. The Catherine the Great box was presumably one such work, and it found its way onto the art market, where it was acquired by the family of the present owner in the 1970s.

Les Frères Toussaint

Charles (1720-1790) and Pierre-Etienne Toussaint (1726-1805), of Huguenot descent, arrived in Hanau from Berlin in 1752. Les Frères Toussaint were foremost among bijoutiers working in Hanau in the second half of the eighteenth century, building on the city’s more than century-old history of attracting French-speaking bijoutiers, mostly Huguenots. They built a thriving luxury goods business and important center for the production of gold boxes. Les Frères Toussaint were known to make snuff boxes on commission, and their works made their way across Europe. For further information about Les Frères Toussaint, see Lorenz Seelig, “Eighteenth century Hanau gold boxes,” Silver Society of Canada Journal, 2015, vol. 18.

Catherine the Great had many agents who purchased an immense number of luxury items in Western Europe, including gold boxes from Germany and Hanau in particular (a practice which succeeding Russian monarchs continued into the mid-nineteenth century). One such example is an enameled gold snuff box, made in Hanau circa 1790-1795, which was presented by Catherine to Captain Timofei Mironovich Vremev in 1795 (Christie's, London, May 31, 2012, lot 62). The box includes an original presentation inscription in Russian. Another gold box, made in Hanau or Berlin, circa 1770, set with a medallion portrait of Catherine, was offered at Christie’s, London, July 7, 2016, lot 218.