cigarette-case;
box;
jewellery-case
- Museum number
- 1969,0705.58
- Description
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Gold box or cigarette case; of hexagonal form, the body with panels of mother-of-pearl mosaic work, inlaid in hexagons and lozenges, the six angles at each end set with emeralds in polygonal settings. The ends set with panels of lapis lazuli, the push-piece set with three emeralds, two trapezoid-cut and one triangular-cut. London hallmarks for 1970-71.
Contained in the original rectangular deep red textured leather Cartier case with cut corners, and stamped and gilded tooling. The interior with cream moiré silk lining to the lid and cream velvet base.
- Production date
- 1970
- Dimensions
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Height: 6.50 centimetres (jewellery-case)
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Length: 13.20 centimetres (jewellery-case)
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Length: 8.70 centimetres
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Width: 9.20 centimetres (jewellery-case)
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Width: 5 centimetres
- $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.
This box required such complex lapidary work for the fifteen specially cut emeralds that it was completed only in 1972, three years after Wilding's death. The box rest on the faceted sides of four of the emeralds, two at each end. Like 1969,0705.44 and 54, the projecting stones would have to be cut with absolute precision so the box sits flat without wobbling.
The silk lining to the lid is probably a replacement; normally the lining would have the Cartier printed stamp in gold.
- Location
- On display (G2/wp44)
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2014 Oct 14 - London, BM, G2, 'Collecting the World'
- Acquisition date
- 1969
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1969,0705.58