{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O156551"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O156551/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU2199/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU2199/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU2199","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2221","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2220","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2219","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2218","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2217","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2216","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O156551/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O156551","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.371-2008","objectType":"Snuffbox","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Pierre-François Drais was the pupil and cousin of the famous goldsmith Jean Ducrollay. In 1786, he entered into partnership with Charles Ouizille. An album of designs from Ducrollay's workshop, including designs used by Drais and Ouizille is now in the collection of the V&A (museum no. E.897-1988). In 1770, Drais supplied 4800 <i>livres</i> of presents to be distributed at the marriage of the future Louis XVI to Marie-Antoinette. \r\n\r\nThe chasing of the mythological scenes has been attributed by Charles Truman to Gérard Debèche <I>fils</I>. Debèche appears in the court records, bailed out by his father who was also a gold chaser, for an episode of juvenile excess, taunting a chemist with an enema, throwing stones and breaking a gold-mounted tortoiseshell box. A Gérard Debèche, possibly the chaser of this box, is recorded as working with Drais on a gold box for the <i>corbeille de mariage</i> of Marie-Antoinette. It was supplied for 6000 <i>livres</i> but he had to reduce his price to 4800, despite his protestations about the quality of the work.\r\n\r\nSir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver,  mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes.  Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.","physicalDescription":"A rectangular, varicoloured-gold and enamel snuffbox with canted corners, set with six oval panels of gold, chased in relief on a sablé ground. The panel on the cover depicts young girls and putti sacrificing to a herm of Priapus; that on the base, Venus riding on a dolphin, attended by putti; the walls with Venus or a nymph, Pan and putti. Each panel is bordered by acanthus and set under glass, framed by gold strapwork and surrounded by panels of green <i>basse taille</i> enamel over engraved scrolling foliage, with pellet and stylized-leaf border. The walls are divided by eight pilasters hung with swags; the rim of the lid is decorated with interlaced laurels.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Drais, Pierre-Francois","id":"A14779"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"},{"text":"glass","id":"AAT10797"}],"techniques":[{"text":"chasing","id":"AAT54016"},{"text":"engraving (incising)","id":"AAT53829"},{"text":"basse-taille","id":"AAT53775"},{"text":"enamelling","id":"x37485"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Chased, engraved and enamelled gold, glass","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Personal accessories","id":"THES48912"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Enamels","id":"THES48876"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BU2199","2008BU2221","2008BU2220","2008BU2219","2008BU2218","2008BU2217","2008BU2216"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"71","id":"THES49723"},"free":"","case":"CA011","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"snuffbox","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1772-73","earliest":"1772-01-01","latest":"1773-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"6.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured 29/01/24 IW","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Mark of Pierre-François Drais","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In the lid, in the base, and in the front wall"},{"content":"Marks for Paris ca. 1772-1773","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In the lid, in the base, in the front wall, and on the left side of the bezel"},{"content":"Engraved 'DEBECHE POUR LE CABINET DE SA MAJESTÉ ANNÉE 1710'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On the bezel"}],"objectHistory":"Provenance: Baron P.P. Dournovo, Saint Petersburg.  Ball and Graupe, Berlin, lot 99 (anonymous sale by the Soviet government), September 24, 1930.  Sotheby's, Zurich, lot 101, November 7, 1975.  British Rail Pension Fund, sale, Sotheby's, Geneva, lot 32, May 15, 1990.  S.J. Phillips, London, 1990.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Snuffbox with mythological scenes. Gold, enamel, glass. Paris, 1772-73. Box by Pierre-François Drais (active 1763–88), chasing by Gérard Debèche fils (active about 1740–79)","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Prachoff, Adrien. <u>L'album de l'exposition retrospective d'objects d'art de 1904 à St. Petersbourg</u>, 1907, pp. 205-7, fig. 103."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Watson, Francis J.B. 'A Gold Box Signed by Gérard Débèche'. <u>The Burlington Magazine</u>, Vol. 110, February, 1968, pp. 90-93."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Watson, Francis J.B.  'A Footnote on the Débèche Family'. <u>The Burlington Magazine</u>, Vol. 110, April, 1968, p. 219."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Somers Cocks, Anne and Charles Truman. <u>The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection: Renaissance Jewels, Gold Boxes, and Objects de Vertu</u>. New York, 1984, pp. 29-30, fig. 13."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Snowman, A. Kenneth. <u>Eighteenth century gold boxes of Europe</u>, rev. ed., Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club, 1990,  pls. 443-44, p.162.  ISBN.1851490728"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Truman, Charles.<u>The Gilbert collection of gold boxes</u>, Vol. I. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1991, cat. no. 27, pp. 92-6.  ISBN.0875871623"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Watson, Francis J.B. <u>The Wrightsman Collection, Volume III: Furniture, Gold Boxes</u>. New York, 1970, p. 166."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Zech, Heike. <u>Gold Boxes. Masterpieces from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection. </u>London: V&A Publishing, 2015, pp. 58-59, no. 14.  ISBN 987-1-85177-840-9"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Venus","id":"N25"},{"text":"Pan","id":"N156"},{"text":"Priapus","id":"N1"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"putti","id":"AAT250465"},{"text":"dolphin","id":"x30140"},{"text":"acanthus","id":"AAT164902"},{"text":"strapwork","id":"AAT10200"},{"text":"pilasters","id":"AAT2737"},{"text":"swags","id":"x30689"},{"text":"laurel","id":"x39040"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"classicism","id":"AAT56513"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"3. Snuffbox with mythological scenes\r\n1772–73\r\n\r\nParis, France, Pierre-François Drais (active 1763–88, goldsmith), chasing probably by Gérard Debèche fils (active 1740s–70s)\r\nGold and enamel, glazed scenes\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.371-2008","date":{"text":"2024","earliest":"2024-01-01","latest":"2024-12-31"}},{"text":"7. Snuffbox with mythological scenes\r\n1772–73\r\n\r\nParis, France; mark of Pierre-François Drais (active 1763–88), chasing probably by Gérard Debèche fils (active 1740s–70s)\r\nGold, enamel and glass\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.371-2008","date":{"text":"16/11/2016","earliest":"2016-11-16","latest":"2016-11-16"}},{"text":"Snuffbox with mythological scenes\r\n1772–3\r\n\r\nParis, France; mark of Pierre-François Drais (active 1763–88),\r\nchasing probably by Gérard Debèche fils (active 1740s–70s)\r\nGold, enamel and glass\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.371-2008","date":{"text":"2009","earliest":"2009-01-01","latest":"2009-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.371-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"371","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"GB 161"},{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.510"},{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.791.1"},{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"MIN 26"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2018LC1128","2019LP8785","2019LT6728","2019LW2322"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-12","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-19","availableToBook":false}}