Rare Tortoiseshell Boulle Marquetry Chest With A Coat Of Arms

Box in Boulle marquetry of red tortoiseshell, copper and pewter with blue and gold highlights.

This rectangular box is slightly domed on its top. It is richly inlaid on all sides decorated with foliage, foliage, birds and putti.

It bears at its top a quarterly coat of arms 1 and 4, Azure, with a third gold leaf, 2 and 3, Or, with a canard circumvented in flight Azure, a fess in the mouth charged with two twisted fishes, argent.
The coat of arms is surrounded by a circle of azure and a circle of gold and surmounted by a crown of marquis of azure charged with six gold bezants and in the mouth of a lozenge, an oval and of two opposite triangles of the same.
The whole, on a silver background, is circled with acanthus leaves and ribbons, azure.

The front and back of the box is centered with a stylized shell, surrounded by foliage and a putto seated on each side, holding a bird in his hand. Along the balustrade represented, stand two snails turned towards the putti.

All sides of the box are surrounded by a pewter border and framed in ebony.

Late 17th century work

Dimensions: H 14 cm x W 31 cm x D 20.5 cm