The bonbonnière with base and sides enamelled in blue over engine-turned ground, the hinged cover set with an enamel miniature after Nicolas Lancret 'Danse devant une fontaine' within a light blue and gold enamelled border, marked on bezel; the rectangular snuff-box with canted corners and blue enamelled panels over engine-turned ground and within white enamel bands, the hinged cover set with an enamel plaque depicting a mass; the oval pill-box with chased foliate sides, the hinged cover chased with flower bouquet set with emeralds and rubies, marked underneath
the bonbonnière 2⁷⁄₈ in. (74 mm.) diameter; the snuff-box 3 in. (75 mm.) long; the pill-box 1¹⁄₈ in. (30 mm.) long

Mrs Doris Herschorn (d. 1975) and by descent to her son Hugh Sassoon.

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Lot Essay

The scene on the bonbonnière after Lancret's 'Danse devant une fontaine' was a popular choice to adorn gold boxes from the 18th century as shown by one by Louis Mailly dated 1722-26 with a similar enamelled miniature believed to be by Jean-Baptiste Massé (A. K. Snowman, Eighteenth Century Gold Boxes of Europe, London, 1966, ill. 126-127). The painting, believed to have been commissioned by a prominent collector, possibly an aristocratic patron or member of the French royalty, became very popular and was known through its subsequent passage through prestigious collections starting with Empress Catherine II of Russia, 1729-1796 (St. Petersburg, Russia), followed by Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke, 9th Earl of Montgomery (1791-1862) and later to the French branch of the Rothschild family. Since 2001 the painting has been in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.