{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O157799"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O157799/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1975/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU1975/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU1975","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1948","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1947","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1946","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1945","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1944","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU1892","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ © the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU2068","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/O157799/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O157799","accessionNumber":"LOAN:GILBERT.413:1 to 2-2008","objectType":"Snuffbox","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This box forms part of the group of snuffboxes associated with Frederick II, the Great, of Prussia, notable for their size and lavish decoration.  Frederick was a cultivated admirer of the arts. He maintained a lengthy, although sometimes heated correspondence with the French philosopher Voltaire and was a gifted musician, composer and linguist. He had a passion for gold boxes, and showed a keen interest in their design.  He carried a box at all times; one is even said to have saved his life by deflecting a bullet during the battle of Kunersdorf in 1759.\r\n\r\nThis  box  is one of the most flamboyant of the surviving boxes, richly decorated with swirling rococo ornament, set with coloured hardstones and a profusion of diamonds. \r\n\r\nThe box has a contemporary shagreen case.\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 cartouche-shaped, varicoloured-gold-mounted, jeweled mother-of-pearl snuffbox compromising mother-of-pearl plaques mounted within a cagework of gold chased with flowers and scrolls. Blossoms, buds, and leaves on stems are formed from carved stones, porcelain, glass and gems; flowers and leaves are made of materials such as rubies, sapphires, spinel, emeralds, bloodstone, turquoise, citrine, quartz and paste. (These stones are sometimes mounted with painted foil beneath to alter their colour.) The rest of the snuffbox is encrusted with various-sized circular-cut diamonds with foils tinted pink, green, and yellow along with yellow diamonds and rubies. The rim of the cover is set with three large cushion cut diamonds and one large pear shaped diamond over pale pink foils. There is a contemporary shagreen case.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mother of pearl","id":"AAT11835"},{"text":"diamond","id":"AAT11084"},{"text":"amethyst","id":"AAT11133"},{"text":"citrine","id":"AAT209734"},{"text":"ruby","id":"AAT11082"},{"text":"quartz","id":"AAT11132"},{"text":"foil","id":"AAT160106"},{"text":"","id":""}],"techniques":[{"text":"chasing","id":"AAT54016"},{"text":"mounting","id":"AAT81370"},{"text":"","id":""}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mother-of-pearl plaques mounted 'a cage' in gold, chased in three colours set with circular cut diamonds and encrusted with citrine, amethyst and coloured or foiled quartz.","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BU1975","2008BU1948","2008BU1947","2008BU1946","2008BU1945","2008BU1944","2008BU1892","2008BU2068"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"71","id":"THES49723"},"free":"","case":"CA001","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES402529"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"snuffbox","id":""}],[{"text":"case","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Berlin","id":"x28746"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1765","earliest":"1765-01-01","latest":"1765-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"ca."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"10","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"8.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"5.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"","value":"","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Provenance: King Frederick II of Prussia.  Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1914.  Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, 1929.  Christie's, Geneva, lot.  176 ('property of a German Royal House), May 11, 1982.  S. J. Phillips, London.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Gold, mother of pearl, diamonds, rubies, hardstones and foil snuffbox and case, Berlin, circa 1765","bibliographicReferences":[{"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. 73, pp. 216-219.  ISBN.0875871623"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Biermann, George.  <u>Deutsches Barock und Rokoko</u>.  Leipzig , 1914,  pl. 630."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Klar, Martin. 'Die Tabatieren Friedrichs des Grossen',  <u>Der Cicerone</u>. Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1929, vol. 21, p. 9, fig. 4."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Habsburg-Lothringen, Géza von. <u>Gold boxes from the collection of Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert</u>.  R. & A. Gilbert, 1983. 125 p., ill. Cat. no. 38, pp.77-80. ISBN. 0961039809."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Solodkoff, Alexander von and Géza von Habsburg. 'Tabatieren Friedrichs des Grossen',  <u>Kunst und Antiquitäten</u>, 1983, no. 3, figs. 5-6,  pp. 36, 38."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Snowman, A. Kenneth. <u>Eighteenth century gold boxes of Europe</u>, rev. ed. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1990,  pl. 738.  ISBN. 1851490728"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schroder, Timothy, ed. <u>The Gilbert Collection at the V&A</u>. London (V&A Publishing) 2009, pl. 43, p. 58.  ISBN9781851775934"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Baer, Winfried. <u>Prunk-Tabatieren Friedrichs des Grossen.</u>. Exhibition catalogue Potsdam. Munich: Hirmer Verlag 1993. Cat. no. 43, pp. 62-64 (ill.)"},{"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. 82-83, no. 25.  ISBN 987-1-85177-840-9"},{"reference":{"text":"Schroder, Timothy. <i>Gold boxes : from the Gilbert collection : an exhibition</i>, Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986","id":"AUTH354598"},"details":"27","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"},{"text":"","id":""}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"1. Table snuffbox with flowers\r\nAbout 1765\r\n\r\nOne of the most flamboyant of Frederick’s collection, this box is decorated with swirling Rococo ornament and set with coloured gemstones and diamonds, some tinted pink, green and yellow by pigmented foils. The forget-me-not flowers are carved from turquoise, with yellow centres made of glass. The box’s original leather case can be seen in the showcase opposite (drawer 2, ‘German States’).\r\n\r\nBerlin, Germany\r\nMother-of-pearl, gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphire, spinel, amethyst, turquoise, hardstones, glass and foil\r\nFormerly in the collections of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau\r\nMuseum no. Loan:Gilbert.413-2008","date":{"text":"16/11/2016","earliest":"2016-11-16","latest":"2016-11-16"}}],"partNumbers":["LOAN:GILBERT.413:1-2008","LOAN:GILBERT.413:2-2008"],"accessionNumberNum":"413","accessionNumberPrefix":"LOAN:GILBERT","accessionYear":2008,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Arthur Gilbert Number","id":"THES50383"},"number":"GB 45"},{"type":{"text":"The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House","id":"THES50384"},"number":"1996.405"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","snuffbox","case"],"assets":["2026PL6338","2018LC1301","2019LN9496","2019LR2452","2019LT5611","2019LV2258","2019LV7759","2019LW4413","2019LW1747","2019LV8949"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-01","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-26","availableToBook":false}}