SNUFFBOX WITH AN ALLEGORICAL FIGURE OF FLORA
Creator(s): Vasilii Ivanovich Popov (Silversmith)
Currently in storage
About this object
The box is rectangular with cut off corners. Engraved on the cover and heightened with niello is a scene with an allegorical figure of Flora seated (or enthroned?) in the center. She looks to the left and holds a laurel branch in her proper right hand and a horn-shaped basket of flowers in her proper left hand. To her right is a figure of Cupid wearing a quiver of arrows on his back, brandishing his bow against a background of ruins. To her left is a second figure of Cupid, wearing a sort of pastoral straw hat in addition to the quiver of arrows on his back, holding an ornate bow in his proper right hand and a small horn (?) in his left. Around this is a rococo frame of leaves and scrolls. The scene on the underside is framed with a similar rococo series of scrolls and leaves surrounding a standing (or running?), winged figure of Cupid holding a bow. He is centered in a complex rural landscape of trees, fields, fences, and a small cabin. The sides of the box are decorated in niello with a series of landscapes with trees, buildings and small figures.
- Object name:
- SNUFFBOX WITH AN ALLEGORICAL FIGURE OF FLORA
- Made from:
- Silver -- niello -- gilding
- Made in:
- Moscow, Russia
- Date made:
- ca. 1820
- Size:
- 1.9 × 9.2 × 5.7 cm (3/4 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 in.)
Detailed information for this item
- Catalog number:
- 13.42
- Class:
- NIELLO
- Signature marks:
- MARK inside: St. George and the Dragon for Moscow, 84 in a square, V.P in Cyrillic for Vasilii Popov (workmaster in 1816-1868); on edge: 84 in a square, D F in latin script in an oval; tiny illegible mark
- Credit line:
- Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973