cameo;
snuff-box
- Museum number
- 1906,1019.1
- Description
-
Cameo; onyx; bust of Achilles to left in wreathed and dragon-crested helmet; signed; mounted in lid of inlaid gold snuff-box.
- Production date
- 1780 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 1.84 inches
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Text from Dalton 1915, Catalogue of Engraved Gems:
Mounted in the lid of an inlaid gold snuff-box by Neuber, of Dresden.
For the artist Morelli see introduction, p. lvi, and cf. no. 98. A gem signed by him is in the Antiquarium at Berlin (Fürtwangler, Beschreibung der geschnittenen Steine, no. 11641, pl. lxix); another, a portrait of Franz I, is at Vienna (von Sacken and Kenner, Die Sammlungen des k.-k. Münz-und-Antiken-Cabinettes, p. 467, no. 115a).
Information supplementary to Dalton 1915:
For J.C. Neuber, see A. Kugel (ed.), 'Gold, Jasper and Carnelian. Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court', Paris and London 2012, pp. 123-179 (chapter on decorative snuff-boxes), especially pp. 158-9 illustrating cat.nos. 92, 93, 94 and 98, and the Catalogue Raisonné section on 'Snuff-boxes decorated with cameos', pp. 348-351, nos. 82-98. Kugel notes (p.158) that while some cameos are orignal, most are the result of modifications made in the early 19th century or later. The cameo on this box appears to be a later alteration: the colour of the gold is different and the style of engraving on the cameo mount does not match that on the box.
- Location
- On display (G46/dc22)
- Acquisition date
- 1906
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1906,1019.1