Lovely antique French 19th century Napoleon III or Victorian era cigar caddy or presenter, a mechanical carousel style casket (not a humidor) in ebonized wood with colorful hand painted Chinoiserie style decoration including birds or hawks, dragonflies, flowers & foliage, six rotating doors that hold three cigars or cigarillos each and a pressed brass or gilt ormolu bands top & bottom! Normally we find these (when we're lucky enough to) with problems rotating the doors but this one works just about as good as could be hoped for though sometimes the doors need just a slight nudge to fully open or close. Chinoiserie style and these were Europe's answer to the Oriental lacquer pieces. On display around the world, including the room dedicated to Victorian papier mache goods displayed in the Musee des Arts Decoratif in a wing of the Louvre (Paris). This one not quite so grand as those but with attractive colorful hand painted birds or hawks & dragonfly figures and elegant in its own right. These cigar presenters really do make lovely decorative pieces and this is just one of a few that we'll be listing in the next weeks so be sure to browse a bit while you're with us. Thanks!
Very good condition, age & materials considered. Some wear to the hand painted scenes and there are a few woodworm/bug holes evident (mostly around the base area). One door is missing the lower brass cigar holder fitting, the rest of all of the interior fittings are intact. The doors, as noted, do rotate relatively well for its age but do, sometimes, need just a bit of help. There also would have been a wood panel covering the base but it's missing so the inner mechanism is visible. See images for all measurements.
