Swiss Gold and Enamel Snuff Box

Inventory Number: O23030016LC

Made circa 1809-1819 by Pierre-André Montauban in Paris, 95×65×15 mm. Yellow gold and enamel, rectangular with cut corners, the lid applied with a contemporary Geneva enamel plaque of cherubs holding flower garlands and cornucopia and frolicking around dolphins in the sea, the sides and underside decorated in regular concentric engine-turning within dark blue narrow enamel border and further scrolling garland border on a very fine sablé ground.

CORNELIA'S JEWELS is a famous short story about a mother and her sons. Cornelia was the daughter of Scipio Africanus and mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. She was highly regarded as a model Roman matron. The story is told that one day she was visited by a very elegant woman who wore a great many jewels. Asked by the visitor to show some of her own ornaments, Cornelia proudly presented her two sons and exclaimed, "These are my jewels!"

On loan from the private collection of Mr. Yeung Sau Wong.