An 18th century diamond-set

An 18th century diamond-set, carved quartz and gold mounted horse's head snuff box,

unmarked, possibly by the widow of the jeweller Louis Buyrette, Berlin circa 1760,

the shaped-oval quartz cover with gold hinge mount decorated with a guilloche band on a base carved as the head of a horse with diamond-set eyes and gold bridle with diamond tips to the bit, height 7.5cm, length 6.8cm.

Provenance:

The Arnold and Barbara Burton Collection, Bonhams, New Bond Street, 18 June 2014, lot 7.

With Wartski 1975.

Bonhams' footnote reads as follows: The possible attribution to the widow of Louis Buyrette is due the similarity of selection in stone, carving and eye mounts to a series of dudlesack (German bag pipe) boxes, examples of which could be seen these rooms (Bonhams) 19 June 2013, ex-lot 68, and the Collection of Baron de Redé and Baron Guy de Rothschild, Sotheby's Monaco, 25-26 May 1975, one of which is illustrated by Snowman, plate 624. In plate 655, Snowman illustrates another carved hard stone animal head box that has very similar cover mounts.