A hardstone, mother-of-pearl and burgau shell appliqué snuff box with four-coloured gold mounts, probably Daniel Baudesson, Berlin, circa 1755

The box was shown by the London dealers Wartski at the Antique Dealers’ Association Fair in 1954, described as 'acquired recently from a famous Royal collection';

Sotheby's, Geneva, 15th May 1986, lot 87

K. Snowman, Gold Boxes of Europe, Londres, 1981, pl. 650.

Despite the absence of marks on the present lot, an attribution to the celebrated goldsmith Daniel Baudesson can be made based on a very similar box, also decorated with a chinoiserie subject after Boucher, applied in carved burgau and mother-of-pearl (fig. 2, sold Sotheby’s Geneva, 19 May 1997, lot 425). This box is struck with his maker’s mark, a Berlin mark, and the date letter N.

Daniel Baudesson (1716–1785), born in Metz, was apprenticed to the Berlin jeweller Samuel Colliveaux. After spending time in Paris, he returned to Berlin, where he eventually became Hofjuwelier to Frederick II of Prussia, better known today as Frederick the Great (1712–1786). According to the Schatull-Rechnungen, the official monthly accounts for private purchases, which list numerous commissions made by the King of Prussia, the passionate gold box collector commissioned at least eighteen ‘tabatières or de couleur enrichie de brilliants’ and other gold, enamel, or hardstone examples from Baudesson between 1747 and 1765. While the accounts also record twenty-two gold boxes by the bijoutier André Jordan (1708–1778) at an overall price in the tens of thousands, they list a staggering amount of 200,000 Reichstaler for the luxurious snuff boxes made for the King by Baudesson.

Currently, fewer than ten gold boxes bearing the marks or signature of Daniel Baudesson are known (Winfried Baer, Zur Problematik der Kennzeichnung auf Berliner Golddosen, in Baer, Prunk-Tabatièren Friedrichs des Großen, Munich, 1993, pp. 14–18). It is believed that the date letters struck onto the boxes by Baudesson followed the Parisian practice of marking the production year with consecutive date letters. The proximity of the recorded letters M, N, and Q suggests that the known examples were likely produced within a short time frame during the 1750s (Baer, op. cit., p. 15).

Praised for their superb quality, craftsmanship, and inventiveness, the surviving gold boxes by Baudesson are held in private and museum collections around the world, including examples with exquisite enamels painted by Daniel Chodowiecki in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (e.g., acc. no. 17.190.1242), the Musée du Louvre (OA 7657), and the Gilbert Collection (Loan: Gilbert 333-2008).