the cover and base centred by a rectangular panel of moss agate with black and yellow markings on a greyish-white ground, bordered by a zig-zag style inlaid band of triangles in variously coloured decorative hardstones, including banded sardonyx and agates in shades of browns, orange, green, greys and white, lapis lazuli, chalcedony, cornelian and jasper, the side panels with a similarly inlaid band formed by a central line of lozenges with triangle zig-zag above and below, cagework mounted, the gold rims engraved top and bottom with trailing foliate bands, zigzag pattern to the uprights, the interior fitted with petrified wood panels in greenish brown with pinkish-brown bands.
Following the dictates of fashion the present snuffbox is of slender form, like an example in gold and heliotrope snuffbox by Petschler.
On the lid, hardstone specimens, cut in equilateral triangles and arranged in a colourful band, frame the central specimen panel of moss agate. This hardstone mosaic is laid down on panels of petrified wood, the reverse sides of which form the lining of the interior. The fine gold cagework mounts are crisply chased with leaf-tip and laurel leaf motifs. Length 9cm / 3�''
Width 5.8cm / 2�''
Depth 2.2cm / 7/8'' Weight: 121.5g
18th century German coloured gold rectangular box by Les Freres Toussaint, Hanau c.1760, formerly Rothschild family collection, chased and engraved with figural decoration in yellow, rose, lemon gold and silver,
Louis XVI vari-coloured gold mounted tortoiseshell and portrait miniature box by Francois Delanoy, Paris 1779, the miniature of the Comte d'Angiviller by Jean-Baptiste Weyler (French 1747-1791),