France or Netherlands

This gold box is decorated on the lid with a tableau –curiously made of blued steel – depicting Diana and Actaeon. The sides of the box are adorned with a blue and gold geometric lattice work, in the style of Louis XVI. A naturalistic fly creeps across the upper left corner: this was the quality hallmark of the goldsmiths of St. Maixent. Two weapons at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris bear the same hallmark.