Bidspirit auction | Trompe-l’oeil Silver Snuff Box in

Trompe-l’oeil Silver Snuff Box in the Form of a Book with Niello View of the Moscow Kremlin, Moscow, 1883 - Trompe-l’oeil Snuff Box in the Form of a Little Book with a Niello View of the Moscow KremlinMoscow, master “IA”, 1883.Silver, niello, gilding, engraving.Size: 5.5 × 9.4 × 2.5 cm. Weight: 119 g.Marks: maker’s mark “IA”; Moscow assay mark, 84 zolotnik silver standard.A finely executed silver snuff box designed in the trompe-l’oeil manner as a small antique book, its compact rectangular form ingeniously articulated with a curved spine and gilt “page” edges. The cover is centred with a carefully engraved and nielloed panoramic view of the Moscow Kremlin, enclosed within a scalloped cartouche and set against a richly textured ground imitating woven ornament.The reverse is decorated with an elaborate ornamental panel in the Pan-Slavic taste, further enriching the object’s historicising character.