Unknown Boy in a Ruff, Aged 3 years

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Miniature painting. Snuff box/Objets de vertu. Unknown Boy in a Ruff, Aged 3 years. Unknown Italian miniaturist. Unknown French silversmith. Oval, silver box with tortoise shell lid and base, the lid inlaid with silver piqué work with a man stretching into a palm tree beside which is a scroll inscribed 'CRESCIT SUB PONDERE'. Glued inside the lid is a circular miniature of an unknown boy in a red jacket and white ruff, inscribed in gold "AEta.3.1615". The tortoiseshell was carved from a turtle shell, which was heated and pressed to form the lid and base. Height, miniature, 52 mm, width, miniature, 54 mm; length, whole box, 8.1 cm, width, whole box, 6.2 cm, height, whole box, 1.6 cm, circa 1600. The box does not bear any hallmarks. Notes: The box was probably made in France circa 1710, and the miniature was probably painted in Italy one hundred years earlier.

Image data

Accession Number: M.82-1961
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal length: 120
Camera: Hasselblad H3DII-31
Photographer name: Jaymes Sinclair
Image height: 801 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.6 (Macintosh)
Filesize: 185.27kB
Exposure time: 1/60
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 22/1

Key words

18th Century Date Department Fitz_AA French Italian Material Medium Nationalities Object Type Other Keywords Silver Workflow _WF_AdOK _WF_KWD _WF_OPACtd _WF_PCtd box carved container hinged inlaid inlay inscribed inscriptions lidded objet de vertu oval palm tree palms receptacle scrolling scrolls silver pique snuff box tobacco box tortoise-shell tortoiseshell turtle shell turtleshell vignette

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