A mid-18^th century German enamel novelty bonbonniere or snuff box, Berlin circa 1750 probably by Fromery, with Louis XV French silver mounts Pairs 1744-50

In the form of a three-drawer bombe commode, white ground enamel with gilt raised handles and ornamentation. The lid with two birds billing above a burning heart, surmounted by a floral coronet all topped with pendant swags. The reeded silver mounts opened by a plain shaped thumbpiece, marked to the edge with the discharge mark of Antoine Leschaudel for small silver.

Length – 8 cm / 3.1 inches

“The House of Fromery was founded by the Huguenot goldsmiths, Pierre Fromery, whose son Alexander, perfected a highly desirable individual style of decoration which is instantly distinguishable. It consists of a white enamel ground with gold or silver raised decoration, occasionally interspersed with painted enamel colours …” Susan Benjamin ‘English enamel Boxes from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Centuries’ 1978 pp. 96-97

An almost identical bonbonniere or snuff box given a possible attribution to Fromery workshops with silver mounts marked the same is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1993.336)