CIRCA 1675, UNMARKED

Name: A CHARLES II SILVER TOBACCO-BOX
Brand: CIRCA 1675, UNMARKED
Price: 2400.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

Estimate

GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000

Closed: 31 Oct 2023

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A CHARLES II SILVER TOBACCO-BOX

CIRCA 1675, UNMARKED

Closed: 31 Oct 2023

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

Plain oval, the detachable cover applied with an openwork plaque chased in the centre with a portrait bust of Charles I facing right, within plain frame engraved with the motto 'VIVAT REX CURRAT LEX FLORET GREX' surmounted by a royal crown supported by two winged putti and with sun in splendour above and the inscription 'VIDEO', the border further pierced and engraved with the emblems of France, England, Scotland and Ireland within scrolling foliage
3⅛in. (8cm.) long
3oz. (103gr.)
The inscriptions translated read, 'the King lives, the law guides, the flock prospers' and 'I see'.

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 11 June 2003, lot 85.

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Lot Essay

Boxes depicting King Charles I certainly were extant during the King's lifetime as shown in the letters of the Royalist Thomas Knyvett, 5th Baron Berners (1596–1658). In 1640 Knyvett wrote to his wife 'B. Schofield ed., , London, 1949, p. 100, however, dating these boxes remains a subject for debate. A silver tobacco box of identical design to the present example, is cited by Timothy Schroder in his catalogue entry of an identical gold example in, , Los Angeles, 1988, no. 23. It is struck with the maker's mark BB for a silversmith active from 1673 to 1683. It seems probably therefore that these boxes, including the present lot, were commemorative and date from the reign of King Charles II.