An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story. - image-1
An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story. - image-2
An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story. - image-3
An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story. - image-1An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story. - image-2An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story. - image-3

Lot 3 Dα

An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story.

Auction 1207 - overview Cologne
17.11.2022, 10:30 - Jewellery and Watches
Estimate: 2.000 € - 3.000 €
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An Italian neoclassical 14k gold and lava stone snuff box with depiction of the Mazeppa story.

Flat, rectangular tobacco box with corners made from solid lava stone. The lid carved with a depiction from the story of Masepa. In delicate pierced 14k gld mountings. No hallmarks. H 2.0 cm. L 8.2 cm. W 5.2 cm. Weight 123.81 g.
Possibly Naples, c. 1820.

The depiction is based on the famous painting "Mazeppa aux loups" by Horace Vernet (1826, Musee des Beaux Arts de la Ville Paris). Lord Byron published his dramatic poem "Mazeppa" in 1817, and it served as an inspiration in many areas of culture. The work describes an episode from the life of the Ukrainian Cossack hetman Ivan Stepanovich Masepa (17th century). Masepa had an affair with the wife of a Polish magnate whilst serving as a page of the Polish King John Casimir II. As punishment, he was chased away naked by the cuckolded husband, tied to the back of a wild horse, and narrowly escaped death.

Literature

Illus. in Bunke, Dosen - Ein Brevier, Braunschweig 1960 p. 34, illus. 15