Length: 6 cm × Depth: 4.1 cm × Height: 5.2 cm / Form Number: 83 (after Beaucamp-Markowsky) / Meissen, circa 1740 / Profiled, gilded copper mount / Painted probably by Johann George Heintze
Provenance: Collection Helmut Joseph (Beaucamp-Markowsky No. 70, p. 102) / Brattig 2010, No. 83 / Röbbig Catalogue 2013, No. 37 / Exhibition Catalogue 1988, Reiss Museum, No. 21 / Bonhams Auction, 03.12.2008, No. 77 / Ducret 1973, No. 224
The exterior of the snuff box is decorated with the exceptionally rare black ground. The painter etched the outlines for the applied floral branches in black and gold, while the finely executed interior scene is painted in sepia brown.
The interior painting follows an engraving by Henri Thomassin after Antoine Watteau's painting "Voulez-vous triompher des Belles" (Wallace Collection, London, P387).
Interestingly, the painter omitted the bust in the background, which appears in Watteau’s painting. However, he included it in the interior scene of the only other known comparable snuff box with a black ground. The painting on that snuff box, which we also offer (see No. S. 19 and following fig), follows "Les Amours du Bocage" by Nicolas Lancret, engraved by Nicolas de Larmessin (Wildenstein S. 650 f.).
Both snuff boxes are closely related, both in terms of their exterior decoration and the interior lid paintings. The inclusion of the bust suggests Johann George Heintze as the painter, who is known for his preference for placing such busts and obelisks in natural settings.
The black ground is extremely rare. Among the ground colors listed in "Höroldt’s Painting Models of 1731" (Boltz 1997), it is not mentioned, although Boltz states that it can be documented in the warehouse records of 1730. In addition to the two known black-ground snuff boxes, three Augustus Rex vases with this ground are also recorded [(Untermyer Collection, Fig. 107, T. 70, 71 and Kocher Collection, Dagliano 2003, No. 17)].
