The lids of many snuffboxes by Johann Christian Neuber were once decorated with a medallion, often featuring a miniature portrait of a loved one. The medallion is an interchangeable element, often replaced by the boxes' successive owners, who used the box as a luxurious frame for a precious miniature or cameo, both fashionable among nineteenth- and twentieth-century collectors.
PAST EXHIBITION
Medallions and Cameos
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Snuffbox with a medallion portrait of Friedrich Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, attributed to Dolst
Signed "Neuber à Dresde"
Dresden, ca. 1775
Gold, carnelian, agate, moss agate, jasper, petrified wood, faux-pearls, and watercolor on paper
Private collection
Photo Michael Bodycomb -
Snuffbox with a medallion portrait of an unknown woman in a blue dress by Christian Friedrich Zinke (1684/85–1767)
Dresden, ca. 1770–75
Gold, agate, chalcedony, carnelian, diamonds, and painted enamels
Private collection
Photo Michael Bodycomb -
Snuffbox with a cameo representing Ariadne in profile
Dresden, ca. 1780–85
Gold, carnelian, chalcedony, lapis lazuli, faux-pearls, and moss agate
Private collection
Photo Michael Bodycomb