A personal favorite from my own collections, this is a c.1800 French portrait snuff, a c.1800 French military officer's portrait on top with his Legion of Honor medal. Closed, it looks like most snuff boxes of its age, but this one holds a secret compartment which even is screw-mounted to hide the smaller and older painting. It is small - a face only 1/2" from chin to hairline, and signed and dated by artist: "Rocher 1768". A superb tiny painting, one can perhaps assume it is the father of the Napoleonic era military officer whose portrait is mounted on the lid of the unique box. Full measurements noted on our photos.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. At oldest, dates c.1768, and finished somewhere near c.1800, there are no chips or bug bites. The tortoise shell 3-piece snuff box is really in superb condition for age, as is the inner painting, but each painting is mounted with a slender and quite fragile tortoise shell rim. Fine for the inner one, protected as it is, but the painting set into the lid is stuck beneath the original convex cover glass which I've never been brave enough to dismount and clean inner glass. The painting has a look of having had someone use a wet cloth at some point to clean outer glass and box, and evidence of moisture seepage to the outer rim of the painting, slight weeping to pain on his face. Still, such a rare old important treasure, and so unique, definitely a museum piece. Neither portrait in identified and I don't see a visible signature on the larger oval with soldier.
IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don't hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we're totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.
Our offering exceeds the age limitation of "more than 100 years of age", and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.
