Lot 227: A FINE RUSSIAN PARCEL-ENAMELLED TWO-COLOUR GOLD SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A MINIATURE

by Johann Nicolaus Brandt (fl. 1796-1813), marked, with the St Petersburg town mark, assay master Aleksander Ilyich Yashinov 1795-1826, the miniature by Domenico Bossi (1765-1853), signed and dated 'D. Bossi facebat 1806' (lower right)
Rectangular box with rounded corners, the cover centred by a glazed circular miniature depicting two young girls with blonde curls called the Bergien sisters, one in semi-profile in embroidered white muslin dress tied with blue silk ribbons, her right hand on her younger sister's arm, the other in white muslin dress tied with red ribbons, a mauve yellow shot silk stole draped over her right arm, framed by a narrow gold mount stamped with stylized acanthus bordered by a blue enamel fillet, the matted gold panels on lid, sides and base stamped with scrolling foliage in two-colour gold, blue-enamelled taille d'épargne stylized lotus spandrels in the corners, plain gold rims; rectangular original hinged red morocco case lined with white silk and green velvet
3 5/8 in. (91 mm.) wide

B. Valentin, 'Museumsreife hat ihren Preis', Handelsblatt, no. 210, 29-30 October 1993, illustrated p. G3.

Bequeathed by one of the two sitters on the miniature to her great-nephew, the Swedish painter Count Harald Klinckowström (b. 1897).

An old paper inside the box reads 'Je lègue cette tabatière à mon petit-neveu Harald Klinckowström' and in another handwriting on the reverse 'Portraits des 2 Soeurs Bergien ? (GdMère Labensky &...). retiré du coffre fort en 1903, remis à Maman'.
It is most likely that one of the two girls on the miniature depicts Alexandrine Bergien, mother of Marie Franziska Emilia de Labensky (b. 1832 in Paris), later lady-in-waiting at the Russian Imperial court, who was married in 1863 to Rudolf Mauritz Klinckowström (b. 1816 in Stockholm), parents of Count Harald Klinckowström. The box would thus have been a legacy from the other of the two little girls to Count Harald Klinckowström.
Born in Stralsund in 1773, Johann Nicolaus Brandt arrived in St Petersburg in 1793. He struck his mark in 1796 and specialised in 'Galanterie'. He died in 1813. For more information, see L. Bäcksbacka, St. Petersburgs Juvelerare, Guld- och Silversmeder 1714-1870, Helsinki, 1951, p. 393.
Domenico Bossi first arrived in St Petersburg in 1803 but seems to have spent the following years of his career between Sweden and Russia.
For an earlier work by Bossi, see lot 93.
We are indebted to Ms Emilia Ström, Svenska Porträttarkivet, Nationalmuseum Stockholm, for her research on the identity of the sitters and on the provenance of the box.

(SEE ALSO CATALOGUE BACK COVER ILLUSTRATION)

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