Lot 773. A German turned ivory double box and cover, 17th century, Nuremberg; height 13 5/8 in., 34.6 cm. Estimate 70,000 — 90,000 USD. Lot sold 158,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

the box of hexalobe section and with basket-weave design upon three gadrooned bun feet, a tall narrow box of similar design also upon three gadrooned bun feet and with a central support affixed to the lid, the lobed lid of the upper box rising to a nest of basket-weave openwork containing a tall footed vase decorated en suite, with a spray of six variously-carved flowers surrounding a central large trumpet-form flower from which emerge three graduated smaller flowers. 

Provenance: Sotheby's London, December 10, 1992, lot 244

Note: A box of very similar design is illustrated in Charles Plumier's L'Art de Tourneur, first published in 1701 (see fig. 1, Plumier 1749, plate LXIII, no. 64), and a design showing an almost identical tiered floral spray can be seen in the same volume (op. cit., plate LXV, no. 66). Other comparable double boxes were in the cabinet of the celebrated French turner and collector Nicolas Grollier Compte de Servière (1593-1686), who amassed an extensive group of turned objects, and are illustrated in the 1719 publication of copper engravings of his inventory (see Maurice 1985, nos. 115 and 117).

Sotheby's. Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra - Volumes I-VI. New York | 18 Oct 2011 - www.sothebys.com