* RARE IMPERIAL PRESENT SNUFFBOX IN GOLD AND POLYCHROME ENAM - Lot 92

* RARE IMPERIAL PRESENT SNUFFBOX IN GOLD AND POLYCHROME ENAMEL WITH PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR PEDRO II OF BRAZIL (1825-1891). Hinged 18k (750 thousandths) gold snuffbox, rectangular in shape with rounded corners and double pearled rim, the lid with full polychrome enamel decoration centered on a miniature oval painted portrait of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, in uniform wearing his decorations including the blue sash of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross, flanked by two winged female allegories surmounting trophies of the Brazilian flag and coat of arms adorned with the crosses of the Orders of the Rose and the Southern Cross, all framed by finely chased gold interlacing and foliage on a black enamel background. The reverse is decorated with foliage and flowers in champlevé polychrome enamel on a gold guilloché ground. The border decorated with a frieze of lambrequins also in champlevé polychrome enamel. Good overall condition, with minor enamel damage. Switzerland, Geneva, circa 1845-1850. Goldsmith: Charles Magnin (active between 1830 and 1876). Marks: CM (twice) and 18K. H. 2.4 x W. 9.1 x D. 5.4 cm. Gross weight: 141.5 g. * This lot is subject to 5.5% import VAT on the hammer price. Provenance - Present from Emperor Pedro II of Brazil to Hans Joachim Keller (1809-1885), a merchant of Swiss origin, or to his son Karl Ferdinand Keller (1852-1929), Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Brazil. - Then to his sons Philippe and Charles Félix Keller. - Then to their sister Suzanne Keller, Swiss. - Then to his adopted daughter, Françoise Bonzon (1931-2012), Versailles. - Then by descent, Quebec (since 1968). History The Kellers are one of the great Swiss families of international commerce. Hans Joachim Keller, eldest son of a Weinfelden wine merchant, tried his luck and left in 1836 for Bahia, Brazil, where he became a partner in an import-export business. 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, in Bahia at the age of 20. Parallel to this business activity, he became politically active and was appointed Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Bahia between 1881 and 1883. It may well have been during this period that he received this precious snuffbox from the hands of the Emperor of Brazil (1831-1889), or it may have been his father Joachim who received it around 1848-1850, which would better explain the youthful features of Pedro II, freshly crowned on July 18, 1841, aged around 22. In 1884, Carlos moved the company's headquarters to Paris. Faced with financial difficulties, the company became associated with the Wildberger Co. and he became the company's general agent in Europe. An exporter of Bahia cocoa, Carlos also worked as a shipowner through his company C.F. Keller. He married Cécile Egg, a native of Winterthur, with whom he had two sons and a daughter, Philippe, Charles-Félix and Suzanne. In 1906, the couple bought the Krämerstein villa on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Our snuffbox thus passed to their daughter Suzanne Keller, who married Charles-Eugène Bonzon, a Frenchman living in Paris, with whom she adopted Françoise Bonzon in 1935. Françoise Bonzon and her family moved to Quebec, Canada, in 1968, for professional reasons, and the snuffbox has remained in her direct descendants ever since. Related works : - A snuffbox very similar to the portrait of Pedro II circa 1848, by Charles Magnin, kept at the Museu Imperial de Rio de Janeiro (repr. in Lourenço Luis Lacombe's 1987 book 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 enamel, by Charles Magnin, The Khalili Collections, inv. 566