A rare Du Paquier gilt-metal-mounted snuff box, circa 1730-40. Photo Bonhams

Of canted rectangular form, the cover painted with a bird above a flower basket within an iron-red quatrelobe cartouche enclosed by trellis ground with trefoil motifs, the inside cover with a bird amidst flowers within a similar iron-red and gilt trellis border edged in blue, the rims of the box edged in blue, the interior with a flower spray, the curved exterior moulded with gadroons painted with flowers, alternating with a gilt ground all enclosing an oval flower panel on the base, 6.6cm across; 3.2cm high - Sold for £12,600

Provenance: Karl Mayer Collection, Vienna, sold by Glückselig, Vienna, 19-21 November 1928, lot 484;
Otto and Magdalena Blohm Collection, Hamburg, sold by Sotheby's London, 4 July 1960, lot 101;

Literature: Alt-Wiener Porzellan 1904, no. 1224;
Folnesics 1914, pl. IX, no. 56;
Schmidt 1953, no. 86;
Beaucamp-Markowsky 1985, no. 190;
Beaucamp-Markowsky 1988, no. 54

Exhibited: Vienna, K.K. Oesterreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie, Ausstellung von Alt-Wiener Porzellan, 1904, no. 1224;
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 1972-2003;
London, Gilbert Collection, Somerset House, 2003-2008;
Barnard Castle, Co. Durham, The Bowes Museum, 2008-2010

See Lehner-Jobst 2009 for a discussion of snuff boxes and other galanteries produced by the Du Paquier manufactory.

Bonhams. The Helmut Joseph Collection of Important Snuff Boxes, 5 Jul 2011. London, New Bond Street www.bonhams.com