Large Table Tobacco Box

This tobacco box, measuring 12.4 cm in length, belongs to the category of large-format Meissen boxes known as table tobacco boxes. These were intended as centrepieces during sociable coffee gatherings – perfectly in keeping with the interior lid scene depicted here.

The image shows a cavalier and two ladies enjoying coffee and tobacco in a small circle, using long clay pipes as was customary in the early 18th century. The motif was very popular and reflected contemporary aristocratic smoking habits. Notably, the painter has included the tobacco box itself as a picture within the picture, prominently placed on the table.

Table tobacco boxes are far rarer than the smaller snuffboxes, but without exception exhibit exceptionally refined painting. This may be attributed to their representative character – they were not for private use, but meant for festive, communal settings.

The lid of our box, with its exotic harbour scene on the exterior and the domestic smoking scene on the interior, is a fine example of this type. The lavish gold decoration extending across the corners further supports the attribution to Johann George Heintze, who set new standards not only in figural painting but also in gilding (cf. Rückert, Biographische Daten, p. 155).

Heintze was Höroldt’s "first boy" and most talented assistant (see Berling 1900, p. 186; Walcha in KFS 48/1959, p. 34). He later became head of the painting department, one of the highest-paid artists in the manufactory, and one of Meissen’s most versatile painters. According to Rückert, he had access to an extensive collection of engravings for use as pictorial sources.

The elaborate harbour scene is based on the engraving "Mohle zu Neapoli sambt der Cinosura und dem Castell novo" by Melchior Küsel (1626–1683), published around 1682 as part of the "Iconographia" by Johann Wilhelm Baur (Augsburg).

Heintze vividly adapted this print into a colourful composition.

A smaller snuffbox featuring only the background motif, including the tower, is likewise attributed to Heintze in the literature (cf. Röbbig, Tabatieren, p. 163, no. 28, fig. VI.6).

Large Table Tobacco Boxes

• Another large table tobacco box by Heintze – executed in the purpur camaïeu technique that he helped develop – is also in our possession (see no. S42; Langeloh 2019, no. 42, pp. 292–299). The interior lid shows a table scene with figures playing games and smoking clay pipes.
• A closely related large box in purpur camaïeu, painted by Heintze, is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (cf. Christie’s London, 16 March 1970, lot 57). It was exhibited in the 2010 Dresden anniversary exhibition (cat. no. 464). The interior lid again features a domestic smoking scene.
• Another example of this subject is held at the Cleveland Museum of Art (cf. exhib. cat. 2010, p. 368, no. 464).

The motif of the table group playing and smoking is based on a copper engraving made around 1733 by Bernard François Lépicié after a painting by Jean-Baptiste Pater (cf. Ingersoll, no. 497, fig. 139). The interior lid paintings of the box presented here and of the Metropolitan Museum’s example correspond most closely to that print.