RARE IMPERIAL PRESENT Snuff Box IN GOLD AND POLYCHROME ENAMEL WITH PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR PEDRO II OF BRAZIL (1825-1891).

Snuff bottle in 18k (750 thousandths) gold, rectangular in shape with rounded corners and double beaded border, mounted on a hinge, the lid with polychrome enameled decoration in full center of a painted oval miniature portrait depicting Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, in uniform wearing its decorations including the blue sash of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross, flanked by two winged female allegories surmounting trophies of flags and coats of arms of Brazil decorated with the crosses of the orders of the Rose and the Southern Cross, all within a frame of finely chiseled gold interlacing and plant scrollwork on a black enameled background. The reverse decorated with foliage scrolls and flowers in polychrome champlevé enamel on a guilloché gold background. The border decorated with a frieze of lambrequins also in polychrome champlevé enamel. Good general condition, small damages to the enamel.

Switzerland, Geneva, circa 1845-1850.

Goldsmith: Charles Magnin (active between 1830 and 1876).

Hallmarks: CM (twice) and 18K.

H. 2.4 x L. 9.1 x D. 5.4 cm. Gross weight: 141.5g.

* This lot is subject to import VAT of 5.5% on the hammer price.

Origin

- Present from Emperor Pedro II of Brazil to Hans Joachim Keller (1809-1885), merchant of Swiss origin, or to his son Karl Ferdinand Keller (1852-1929), honorary consul of Switzerland in Brazil.

- Then to the latter's sons, Philippe and Charles Félix Keller.

- Then to their sister Suzanne Keller, Switzerland.

- Then to his adopted daughter, Françoise Bonzon (1931-2012), Versailles.

- Then by descent, Quebec (since 1968).

Historical

The Kellers are one of the great Swiss families in international trade. Hans Joachim Keller, eldest son of a wine merchant from Weinfelden, tried his luck and left in 1836 for Bahia, Brazil, where he became a partner in an import-export company.

His son Carlos (Karl in German), was born in Bahia then studied in Switzerland before taking over the family business, renamed C.F. Keller Co, at the age of 20, in the same town of Bahia. In parallel with this commercial activity, he became politically involved and was appointed honorary consul of Switzerland in Bahia between 1881 and 1883. It was possibly during this period that he was able to receive from the hands of the Emperor of Brazil (1831- 1889) this precious snuffbox, unless it was his father Joachim who received it around 1848-1850, which would better explain the youthful features of Pedro II, newly crowned on July 18, 1841, aged around 22.

In 1884, Carlos transferred the company's headquarters to Paris. Faced with financial difficulties, the company was associated with the company Wildberger Co., he then became general agent of the company in Europe. A cocoa exporter from Bahia, Carlos also works as a shipowner through his company C.F. Keller. He married Cécile Egg, of Winterthur origin, with whom he had two sons and a daughter, Philippe, Charles-Félix and Suzanne. In 1906, the couple bought the villa Krämerstein on the banks of the Lake of the Four Cantons, near Lucerne.

Our snuffbox was thus passed on to their daughter Suzanne Keller who married Charles-Eugène Bonzon, a Frenchman established in Paris, with whom she adopted Françoise Bonzon in 1935. She emigrated to Canada, to Quebec, with her entire family , in 1968, for professional reasons, and this snuffbox was kept there until then in his direct descendants.

Related works:

- A snuffbox very close to the portrait of Pedro II around 1848, by Charles Magnin, kept at the Museu Imperial in Rio de Janeiro (represented in Lourenço Luis Lacombe's 1987 work on the museum).

- A snuffbox similar to the portrait of Napoleon, by Charles Magnin, Sotheby’s London sale, July 14, 2020, lot 52.

- A comparable snuffbox in gold and enamels, by Charles Magnin, The Khalili Collections, inv. 566

€15,000/20,000