99th Auction
2019/5/11
Lot 483
"EJ" (probably Esaias Fernau & Compagnie), Hanau, 84 x 62 x 41 mm, 198 g, circa 1780
An exquisite German gold enamel snuff box "Gallant scene with Lute Player"
Case: 19k gold (Hanau town mark) and polychrome enamel, master's mark "EJ", two later post-1838 French restricted warranty marks for gold.
Oval box with all-over translucent orange-coloured enamel on engine-turned ground, two-colour gold borders with applied foliate scrolls and a fine, opaque white enamel frame. The sides are similarly decorated with raised gold strips. The cover has a central enamel medallion in a frame of leaves, showing a galant scene with two young ladies and a musician playing the lute in an Arcadian landscape.
Esaias Fernau (circa 1734-1795) was one of the leading jewellers in Hanau and employed a large staff of people. From 1762 to 1780 he was in partnership with another native of Hanau - the goldsmith and enameller Daniel Marchand (1733-1794).
In 1780 Fernau established a new company with enamel painter and jeweller Friedrich Wagenführer (1743-1818); his brother Johann Friedrich Fernau (active 1773-1789) joined the company later. The company traded as "E. Fernau et Comp.", "Gebrüder Fernau et Comp." or just "Gebrüder Fernau" (Brothers Fernau).
Source: Lorenz Seelig, "Eighteenth century Hanau gold boxes", Silver Society of Canada Journal 2015, p. 47-48
An exquisite German gold enamel snuff box "Gallant scene with Lute Player"
Case: 19k gold (Hanau town mark) and polychrome enamel, master's mark "EJ", two later post-1838 French restricted warranty marks for gold.
Oval box with all-over translucent orange-coloured enamel on engine-turned ground, two-colour gold borders with applied foliate scrolls and a fine, opaque white enamel frame. The sides are similarly decorated with raised gold strips. The cover has a central enamel medallion in a frame of leaves, showing a galant scene with two young ladies and a musician playing the lute in an Arcadian landscape.
Esaias Fernau (circa 1734-1795) was one of the leading jewellers in Hanau and employed a large staff of people. From 1762 to 1780 he was in partnership with another native of Hanau - the goldsmith and enameller Daniel Marchand (1733-1794).
In 1780 Fernau established a new company with enamel painter and jeweller Friedrich Wagenführer (1743-1818); his brother Johann Friedrich Fernau (active 1773-1789) joined the company later. The company traded as "E. Fernau et Comp.", "Gebrüder Fernau et Comp." or just "Gebrüder Fernau" (Brothers Fernau).
Source: Lorenz Seelig, "Eighteenth century Hanau gold boxes", Silver Society of Canada Journal 2015, p. 47-48
Sold
estimated
22.000—30.000 €
Price realized
37.800 €