A FINE RUSSIAN GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF BOX, BY PIERRE THEREMIN, ST PETERSBURG, 1800

A FINE RUSSIAN GOLD AND ENAMEL SNUFF BOX, BY PIERRE THEREMIN, ST PETERSBURG, 1800 rectangular with cut corners, the lid painted en plein after William Beechey's Portrait of Sir Francis Ford's Children Giving a Coin to a Beggar Boy (1793), within leaf scroll paillon and taille d'épargne borders, the sides and base of opaque sky blue enamel. 8.5cm by 7cm, 114 grams The charitable children are Francis Ford and Mary Ford, whose father, Sir Francis Ford (1758-1801) of Ember Court, Thames Ditton, Surrey, was a wealthy politician and the owner of extensive property in the West Indies. The original painting is at Tate Britain (T06734). The portraitist Sir William Beechey (1753-1839) became Queen Charlotte's official portrait painter in 1793; his full-length portraits of her and King George III hang in the Grand Staircase at Buckingham Palace (RCIN 405422/3). His painting of George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops earned him a knighthood in 1798; it was the only painting destroyed in the Windsor Castle fire of 1992, being too large to move from the State Dining Room. Sir William was the father of 21 children by his two wives.