TWO PARCEL-GILT AND NIELLOED SILVER SNUFFBOXES
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Possibly Georgia, Ottoman Western Provinces or Bukhara, Central Asia, late 19th century, one dated 1293 AH (1876 AD)

Each of rectangular shape with gently rounded edges, opening as two folding silver sheets pinned together in the centre, the exterior engraved, parcel-gilt and decorated in niello, the decoration consisting mostly of stylised rosette sprays and floral stems, vegetal trellis around the edges, openwork floral appliqued medallions in the centre, the back of one of the boxes signed in Arabic characters with a foreign name The Work of Al-Sabin Kalus (Carlos Sabin) (?), each 163gr., the largest 11cm x 6.5cm.