Gold boxes at Hillwood

Magazine Antiques, March, 2003 by Liana Paredes Arend

The collection of gold boxes and objects of vertu (1) at Hillwood testifies to the sustained interest of Marjorie Merriweather Post (seep. 82, Pl. I) in precious objects with historical associations. She began buying French examples in the 1920s, and they form the core of her collection. She continued to acquire gold boxes, notably those made by the firm of Peter Carl Faberge and even modern works by Cartier. Edith Wharton (1862-1932) defined the accumulation of bibelots as "the voluptuousness of acquiring things one might do without," (2) and in this she identifies the ultimate allure these small creations may have had for collectors, including Marjorie Post.

Small jeweled boxes, besides their practicality as containers, had symbolic value in polite and official circles. They could be tokens of love, diplomatic gifts, or, because of their high intrinsic value, expressions of appreciation for services rendered. Among them the snuffbox was the gold container par excellence of the eighteenth century Tobacco had arrived in Europe with Portuguese and Spanish sailors in the sixteenth century and in the seventeenth it was smoked or sniffed in the form of snuff. Although snuff was known in the seventeenth century the habit ot taking snuff did not spread through France until the eighteenth century In France snuffboxes and other small containers made of precious metals were the cooperative effort of designers, goldsmiths, chasers, engravers, and enamelers. The marchands-merciers of Paris were the creative force behind many of these boxes. This group of fashionable shopkeepers supplied numerous designs that amaze us today for their variety and ingenuity The existence of draw ings by designers who were not goldsmiths is an indication of jewelers' need to hire outside talents to keep up with the latest fashions. (3)

The earliest surviving gold snuffboxes date to the 1720s, of which Hillwood has an example (Pls. Ia, Ib) bearing the Paris datemark for 1723. The inventory of Charlotte Elisabeth (1652-1722), duchesse d'Orleans, drawn up in 1723, mentions several gold snuffboxes, including four a coquille (shell shaped) like this one. (4) The shell motif is closely associated with the Regence period of Philippe, due d'Orleans, from 1715 to 1733. The cover of the box (P1. Ia) is decorated with raised enameled floral motifs on gold against a mother-of-pearl ground. The geometric designs on the base (P1. Ib) in red and green enamel are reminiscent of the formal gardens of the late baroque period, a style of ornament frequently found in the decorative arts of the period. (5)

By the mid-eighteenth century Paris had become the center of the gold box industry in Europe with members of the French court being the Leading purchasers. The inventories of the wedding presents given by the crown to royal brides show the popularity of boxes decorated with enamels.

The two heart-shaped boxes shown in Plates II, IV, and IVa are remarkable for the singularity of their shape. The heart form suggests they must have been intended as tokens of love. Both feature elaborately chased gold scrolls enhanced with enamel framing the painted enamel reserves. The box in Plate IV and IVa displays tavern scenes after the work of Flemish painter David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), while the box in Plate II has four panels painted with bouquets of flowers framed by a green basse-taille trellis. In the Comptes des Menus-Plaisirs, several snuffboxes with miniatures after Teniers are listed as being made for the crown between 1758 and 1764. (6) In 1773 Marie Therese de Savoie (1756-1805), comtesse d'Artois, received about thirty snuffboxes, including some decorated with scenes after Boucher and Teniers. (7)

Both heart-shaped boxes were early purchases by Marjorie Post, and both had been in the collection of Alfred Charles de Rothschild (1842-1918) and later in the collection of Almina (c. 1877-1969), countess Carnarvon. (8) Despite the fact that only the Teniers box bears the mark of Francois Guillaume Tiron, both boxes were probably made at the same time as a pair, presumably by the same maker. Tiron came from a dynasty of gold box makers that included his brother Jean Marie (w. 1775-1781). They were in business together on the rue de Saint Louis, Paris, under the name Pomme d'Or from about 1754 to 1756, after which Francois Tiron carried on at the same address until 1775. (9) Their combination of practices as marchands-orfevres-joalliers, that is, as traders and sellers of gold, silver, and jewelry is paralleled in the furniture trade of the time in which some makers were also dealers.

The third quarter of the eighteenth century marks the apogee of the Paris gold box. These neoclassical boxes are characterized by the division of the decoration into compartments, with a central medallion bordered by garlands of varicolored gold or enamels, swags, or raised beads. The entire production of Charles Le Bastier, the maker of the box in Plate V. is characterized by neoclassical restraint and a preference for classical and allegorical scenes. The painted enamel medallion in the center depicts an eighteenth-century couple who have just offered a flower wreath to Cupid. The imitative possibilities of enameling are exploited to their fullest. Here the borders and sides feature panels enameled to imitate lapis lazuli.