ALLEMAGNE OU HOLLANDE, DÉBUT DU XVIIIe SIÈCLE

Formée d'un coquillage volute poli, la bouche appliquée d'une plaque en or gravée d'une alternance de bandes unies et de bande filetées rehaussées d'un motif imitant le corail, le col uni, le bouchon avec prise ovale balustre, apparemment sans poinçons
L.: 7 cm. (2³⁄₄ in.)
Poids brut: 22 gr. (14 dwt.)

Vente Sotheby's, Londres, 9 novembre 1999, lot 98.

A GOLD-MOUNTED SHELL SCENT BOTTLE
PROBABLY GERMANY OR HOLLAND, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Volute shell, the mouth applied with a gold plaque engraved to emulate the patterns of the shell, with plain collar and baluster curved stopper, apparently unmarked

Exotic shells imported from China have captivated the imagination of European goldsmiths since the 16th century, and were mounted in cups, gourds or bottles. For this scent bottle, the goldsmith was able to highlight the shape and natural pattern of the shell by engraving the gold parts with the same decoration.
Perfume bottles due to their small size are not always hallmarked as is the case here, but there are examples bearing French, Flemish or German hallmarks. Certainly the tradition of these mounted or transformed shells continued for a long time in Holland where the VOC held the monopoly on the importat of these shells.
For a snuffbox in the style of this bottle, unmarked but possibly Holland, circa 1750, see The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Gold Boxes and Miniatures in the Eighteenth Century, London, 1975, p. 105, No 49 and for an example in gold chased in imitation of a shell, without hallmark but perhaps German or Dutch, circa 1740-1750, see p. 32, No. 6.