Lot 3775. An important Saxon gold and hardstone bonbonnière by Johann-Christian Neuber (1736-1808), signed on the flange 'Neuber à Dresde.', Dresden, circa 1780; 2½ in. (64 mm.) diam. Estimate: HK$3,200,000.00 - HK$5,200,000.000 (USD 410,160 - USD 666,510). © Christie's Images Ltd 2018.

circular gold-lined box, the cover, sides and base inlaid with radiating red and mocha-coloured striated agate ribbons heightened with carnelian mounts, the sides with alternating ovolos of striated agate and polished gold set with sky-blue coloured glass forget-me-nots with green jasper leaves and inlaid with carnelian, the cover centred with an oval medallion of dendritic agate within a gold-mounted carnelian border, the base with a carnelian rosette within a laurel border of green jasper and centred by a sky-blue coloured-glass forget-me-not, within simulated pearl borders, the flange engraved ' Neuber à Dresde '.

Literature: W. Holzhausen, 'Johann Christian Neuber', Apollo, October 1950, p. 106, fig. VI., ill.
A. Kugel, Gold, Jasper and Carnelian Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court, London, 2012, no. 67, ill. no. 67, p. 345. 

Note: Born in Neuwunsdorf in 1736, Johann Christian Neuber was apprenticed at the age of seventeen to Johann Friedrich Trechaon. He became a master of the goldsmith's guild in Dresden in July 1762 and in 1769, became director of the Green Vaults succeeding Taddel. Following his appointment as court jeweller in 1775, he applied to Friedrich Augustus III for the concession of an amethyst and jasper mine near Schlottwitz, south of Dresden. Saxony’s geology was renowned for the quality and diversity of its gemstones which had been exploited by Dresden court jewellers since the late 16th century. The mines yielded jasper, carnelian, garnet, amethyst, smoky quartz, citrine, bloodstone, rock crystal, petrified wood as well as a huge variety of agate including the striated agate used for this box and that Neuber favored for his geometric pattern boxes, justly described by Sacheverell Sitwell as the ‘the epitome of elegant smartness’ (see K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, London, 1990 p. 442). 

This box, one of only fourteen signed ‘Neuber à Dresde’ known to this day, dates from 1780-1785 when Neuber’s production intensified as his popularity grew; the design is simplified but the chromatic palette which is more vivid in order to enhance the central medallion of moss agate, a stone much sought after in Europe by collectors of natural history specimens and for incorporating into snuffboxes and jewellery.