Jeanne Vauthey, Genève, 77 x 46 x 20 mm, circa 1910

An exquisite gold enamel snuff box with very fine miniature enamel painting
Case: 18K gold, two French import marks after 1893.
Rectangular case with bevelled edges, all-over engine turning and translucent blue-grey enamelling, sides and base with reeding and coin-pattern decoration. Gold fittings with engraved laurel scrolls, cover engraved with flower scrolls and lozenges. Central very fine miniature enamel portrait of a girl wearing a dress adorned with roses and standing in front of a fountain with a broken jug; the fountain is decorated with lions and rams. Signature "J. Vauthey" bottom right hand corner, applied diamond frame.

Jeanne Vauthey (1866-1935)
Jeanne Vauthey was an enamel painter in Geneva; she is listed to have worked there from 1900 on. Known addresses were her studios at 3, Inc Saint Jean in 1915 and 13, Avenue Galatin after 1924.
A similar box with mirror-inverted enamel miniature is in the Wartsky Collection, London.
On December 14, 2014 Sotheby’s in New York sold a Vacheron & Constantin pocket watch with an enamel miniature by Jeanne Vautheys ("Le Temps et les Parques") for USD 233,000.