Tortoise shell snuff box with a lady at her dressing table

Snuff box/Objets de vertu. A lady at her dressing table. Unknown maker. Tortoise shell with chased gilt metal mounts, inlaid gold piqué point work and a painted polychrome vignette in bodycolour, probably on card, under glass. Oval with straight sides with projecting edges and a projecting hinge. The top of the lid is decorated with a flowering tree, rocks, plants and a dragonfly. The base is decorated with a simpler image of a plant, cloud and dragonfly. The interior of the lid is painted with a lady seated before her dressing table and mirror; she reads a letter whilst attended by a coloured servant bringing chocolate or coffee. The thumbpiece and mount of the lid are chased with stylized foliage and flower heads. Height 1.6 cm, length 8.0 cm, width 6.5 cm, 1730-1760. Rococo. The box may be of earlier manufacture than the painting in the lid.

Image data

• Accession Number: M.58-1984
• Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
• Aperture: f/22.0
• Focal length: 120
• Camera: Hasselblad H3DII-31
• Photographer name: Amy Jugg
• Image height: 674 pixels
• Image width: 1024 pixels
• Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.6 (Macintosh)
• Filesize: 163.66kB
• Exposure time: 1/60
• ISO Speed: 100
• Fnumber: 22/1
• Captured: 2014:04:10 12:03:35

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