Martin Varnish Snuffbox With Gold Mount, Paris, 1756

-  Snuffbox
-  Papier-mâché with Martin varnish decoration, yellow gold mount
-  Illegible master goldsmith
-  Paris, 1756-1757
- Lengths: 7 cm & 6.5 cm (lid); width: 5.2 cm & 4.7 cm (lid) height: 6 cm
- Very good condition, wear on the side decorations

-  Oval shape box of a swollen urn marked by a chiseled gold line, then narrowed at the neck topped with a chiseled gold lid. The papier-mâché body has a decoration on a black background in varnished-polished oil paint covered with a transparent lacquer. The decoration of the lid represents three putti with fruits, the body is an alternation of putti sketches and trophies of arms framed by a gold border engraved in rocaille style, which also frames the scene of the lid.
The putti decorations are inspired by the François Boucher engravings

-  Hallmarks (on the gold mount): master goldsmith: illegible, only the fleur-de-lys crowned with a star are legible; charge ; charge: portcullis, for gold and small silver works, Paris from October 1, 1756 to October 1, 1762 [BP n°428]; warden's mark: Q crowned for gold works, Paris, from July 20, 1756 to July 16, 1757.
-  Ref. : Bimbenet-Privat & de Fontaines : « Les poinçons de l’orfèvrerie parienne », Paris Musées, 1995 ; Forray-Carlier, Anne & Kopplin, Monika : "Les secrets de la laque française-Le vernis Martin", MAD, 2014 ; Grandjean, Serge : " Catalogue des tabatières boîtes et étuis des XVIII^e et XIX^e siècles du Musée du Louvre », Réunion de Musées nationaux, 1981 ; Snowman, Kenneth : « Eightheen century gold boxes of Europe », Faber and Faber, London, 1966