cigarette-case;
box;
case(retailer's);
jewellery-case
- Museum number
- 1969,0705.46
- Description
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Gold box or cigarette case; five colours of gold (yellow, red, pink, green and white), soldered together to form a sheet and then engine-turned to create the zigzag or 'billiard cue' pattern . The inside of the box shows the different colours clearly. The push-piece to open the box is set with a cabochon sapphire. London hallmark 1966.
Contained in an unmarked black leather slip-case, lined with black gros-grain silk.
- Production date
- 1966
- Dimensions
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Length: 11.20 centimetres (jewellery-case)
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Length: 11.20 centimetres
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Width: 8.50 centimetres (jewellery-case)
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Width: 8.40 centimetres
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Depth: 1.50 centimetres (jewellery-case)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- One of seventeen gold boxes commissioned by Peter Wilding from Cartier London between 1962 and 1969; for further information, see 1969,0705.42.
The white gold contains platinum to make it white, the red gold is coloured with copper and the green gold with silver. The white gold is in the centre, flanked by two panels of green gold, then yellow gold, then pink, then red at the outer edges. 'Billiard cue' was the name given to the pattern by Cartier.
Like 1969,0705.42, this is in the Russian style inspired by Fabergé. For examples of Fabergé cigarette cases with the same pattern of ribbed coloured gold, see T. Muntian, 'Fabergé. Jeweller of the Romanovs', exhibition catalogue, ING Cultural Centre, Brussels, 2005, no. 181, dating from 1899-1908, executed in red and green gold with cabochon sapphire push piece. For another example with the same elongated fluted triangles, in yellow and pink gold, see G. von Habsburg and M. Lopato, 'Fabergé: Imperial Jeweller', exhibition catalogue, St Petersburg, Paris, London 1993 (published in Washington), no. 291, with inscription dated 1901, in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
The slim black leather slip-case for this box indicates that it was one of two boxes that Wilding actually used; the other is 1969,0705.42.
- Location
- On display (G47/dc14)
- Acquisition date
- 1969
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1969,0705.46