Lot 29: Ф A late 18th/early 19th century tortoiseshell and gold mounted surprise snuff box the portrait miniature by Samuel Shelley (1750/56 - 1808), signed to the backing paper S. Shelley / Henrietta St / Co t Garden

A late 18th/early 19th century tortoiseshell and gold mounted surprise snuff box
the portrait miniature by Samuel Shelley (1750/56 - 1808), signed to the backing paper S. Shelley / Henrietta St / Co t Garden Oval, the cover with a secret compartment with spring-operated, flush-hinged cover engraved with a JR monogram within a sunburst opening to revel a portrait miniature on ivory of a young girl in a pink dress, facing left, with curled brown hair, with bright-cut hinge-mount on a plain shell base, length 8cm.

Provenance: Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bt, Christie's, London, 8th June 1896, lot 65 (as by Cosway, £75 to Hodgkins).Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 24th November 1981, lot 38 (to Dreesmann)Dr Anton Dreesmann, inventory number F134.Christie's, London, 11th April 2002, lot 890.Private European collection.Literature:D. C. Williamson, Richard Cosway, R. A. London, 1897, p.110 (as by Richard Cosway).This box was bought in the Dr Anton C R Dreesmann Collection sale in 2002 by a private European collector.Further boxes bought at this sale will be coming up in two future Bonhams sales: Fine European Ceramics, Bond St, 6th December 2018; Home & Interiors, Knightsbridge, 11th December 2018.