A Private Collection of Snuff Boxes & Bonbonnières - 25th April 2017
Lot 131
A Battersea enamel rectangular snuff box
Estimate £1,000 - £1,500 | Hammer £2600
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Description
A Battersea enamel rectangular snuff box,
c.1750-55, printed in sepia to the exterior with a scene of soldiers attacking the Trojan horse, the lid's interior with a portrait of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, the sides and base with panels of a diaper ground containing shell and floral motifs, 8.5cm.
Cf. Bernard Watney, 'The Chancellor on a Battersea Enamel', ECC Transactions Vol 7, pt 1, for a discussion of the same portrait on a plaque in the Watney Collection. It seems likely, given the date, that the portrait is of Henry Pelham, since it is remarkably like a print by John Hinton of 1754. However, other examples have been identified as Sir Robert Walpole, and it has more recently been pointed out that the sitter's features are similar to a portrait of Henry Boyle.