Baroque Boxes and Cases

LE MAIRE FILS, PARIS. AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY FRENCH SILVER 'BUTTERFIELD' TYPE POCKET SUNDIAL AND COMPASS. the octagonal plate dial engraved a sundial with four alternating rings of r...

Period: XVIII century. Provenance: French, signed Haye. Dimensions: 8 cm x 5,9 cm Signed HAYE A PARIS, octagonal brass dial engraved, inset compass, mounted with hinged gnomon with ...

Period: XVIII century. Provenance: Germany, signed Johan Schrettegger Augsburg. Dimensions: 5 cm x 5 cm / étui 5,7 cm x 6 cm. Horizontal sundial finely carved gilded brass, signed...

A beautiful, rare solid silver Anglo-French octagonal pocket sundial with compass by Michael Butterfield, circa 1700. The sundial is made for a latitude of 44° and could be used in ...

French baroque egg-shaped box. An exceptional beautiful box, created in Paris France during the late 18th century, circa 1780. The box is most probably a snuff box, designed in the ...

French snuff box in agate and gold. Fabulous round box, created in Paris France during the reigning period of king Louis XV back in the 1760. This beautiful box has been designed wi...

Chinese conchinoiseries box in black lacquered wood and silk interior Exquisite and beautiful Chinese box in lacquered wood with gold chinoiseries representing different Chinese custom scenes. Inside the box is lined with hand-painted silk With a representation of a bird and camellias in very good condition for its age and use. The Camellia represents longevity in oriental culture. and happiness. These types of boxes were used to transport ivory fans...

18k gold and ivory pill box with a country landscape motif by the Catalan sculptor Josep Guardiola Bonet Measures 6 x 4 x 2,2 cm. Inches 2,36 x 1,57 x ...

French snuff box in agate and gold. Exceptional and very rare oval snuff box, created in Paris France during the second monarchic restoration period, between the 1818 and 1838. This beautiful box was designed in the baroque and Louis XV style, depicting the mythological scene of Venus and cupid holding an arrow. It was carefully crafted with two pieces carved from translucent gray-brownish agate and decorated with sculpted chiseled and repousse parts in yellow gold of 18 karats. Fitted with a hinged lid and embellished with one rose cut diamond. The scene represents the Greek-Roman mythological scene of Venus seated in her seashell chariot pulling back Cupid to take away his arrow. In ancient Greece Cupid was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. For the Romans, Cupid is the god of love, son of Venus and Mars, god of war. Cupid was an assistant to his mother Venus, he directed the primordial force of love and brought it to mortals Weight: Total 100.45 Grams, (64.39 Dwt). Measurements: 65 mm by 53 mm by 33 mm (2.56 x 2.09 x 1.31 Inches). Hallmarks: Stamped two times with ancient French marks; the Zeus head...

A really beautiful Swedish sterling silver lockable box or sugar chest from the early 20th Century. The handcrafted box was made in Stockholm in 1916 by 'A...

The scale of this excellent gaming box is as marvelous as its design and decoration. it measures an impressive 34.25" when opened for a game of backgammon. Incredibly, it also retains its wonderfully oversized 2.32" gaming pieces, thirty in all, a complete set for Backgammon, Nine Man's Morris and Checkers. One side of the exterior is composed of a chess/checkers board of Rosewood and Walnut squares. It has developed a slight waviness during the course of its three hundred plus years, making one singularly aware of the many fun games it must have hosted. The other side inlaid in the Nine Man's Morris configuration, a game mentioned by Ovid in the 8th Century AD in Ars Amatoria and by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Variants of Nine Man's Morris include Shax, Kensington, Fangqi and Luk Ssut K'i. The Walnut wood richly figured and unmistakably 17th Century shows areas of contraction, giving this piece a great sense of character. The sides are of beautifully figured Rosewood with a central metal locking mechanism. The interior reveals a fabulous inlaid wood backgammon board in Rosewood with Ebony and light Fruitwood points with Fleur-de-Lis detail. Backgammon dates back to ancient Egypt where it was known as the Royal Game of Ur. The ancient Romans played a similar game, Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, a game of twelve lines. From the 11th Century onward, we find mention of variants of backgammon played in the Royal courts of Persia and Europe. It became a favorite game of gamblers and was prohibited by Louis IX in 1254 among his court officials and subjects. Likewise in the 16th Century, Elizabethan laws and church regulations prohibited the game, but by the 18th Century, it became a popular pastime once more. The dating, scale and craftsmanship of this gaming box suggest that it would have been created for personal use in a noble household. Together with thick, tooled hand stitched leather dice rollers, two large wood dice...