Two-tone gold and enamel snuff box with double portraits, 9.3 cm long, Otto Samuel Keibel, St. Petersburg, circa 1805
Jeweler Otto Samuel Keibel was born in Pasewalk in Prussia in 1768. He studied craftsmanship in Berlin with the famous master Francois-Claude Theremin, who was considered one of the best enamellers. In 1788 his son and heir Johann Wilhelm (1788-1862) was born. And Otto Samuel Keibel went to St. Petersburg in search of work. Here he joined the goldsmith and jeweler in a foreign shop. Thanks to his skill, the Prussian jeweler quickly gained wealth, and at the same time the respect of his colleagues in the profession, who elected him a shop headman (alderman).
Box with a lid decorated with a glazed oval portrait miniature in a gold frame, painted in watercolor and gouache on ivory, depicting a small child in the form of Cupid, length 9.5 cm, Otto Samuel Keibel, St. Petersburg, circa 1799. Miniature by Augustine-Christian Ritta (1765-1799).
Keibel’s work attracted the attention and favor of the imperial court, who commissioned a number of exceptional presentation boxes from him. When he died in 1809, his son Johann Wilhelm Keibel continued the business, using the same hallmark as his father, and creating gold boxes, art objects and high quality awards. In 1826, he remade the Imperial Crown for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I, the future Emperor of Russia.
Having received an Imperial warrant, Keibel’s firm was responsible for the production of all insignia from 1836 to 1841. Keibel’s gold jeweled boxes, which were given as souvenirs or rewards by family members, can be found in the most famous private and museum collections, such as the Hermitage, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Golden snuff box with a portrait of Alexander I, Otto Samuel Keibel, St. Petersburg, circa 1799, Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonGolden marshal’s baton, decorated with enamel and diamonds, Keibel, St. Petersburg, length 49 cm, 1878Golden Badge of the Order of St. Stanislaus, Julius Keibel, St. Petersburg, circa 1870Gold badge of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, civilian sample, Keibel, St. Petersburg, 1830Gold badge of the Order of the White Eagle from the complete set of insignia of the Russian Empire, presented to George, Duke of Cambridge in 1874, Julius Keibel, St. Petersburg.Gold chain and badge of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, Keibel, St. Petersburg, circa 1864Gold chain and badge of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, from the complete set of insignia of the Russian Empire, presented to George, Duke of Cambridge in 1874, Julius Keibel, St. Petersburg.Miniature badge of the Order of St. Andrew, Julius Keibel, St. Petersburg, 1870-1875Golden snuffbox in the shape of a cartouche, case made of amethyst quartz, lid with embossing and engraving, on a dark blue enamel background, an enamel insert depicting two women in Greek clothes, possibly Keibel, width 7.8 cm, St. Petersburg, circa 1840 .Gold box decorated with chasing, Otto Keibel, length 8.7 cm, St. Petersburg, circa 1890Golden snuffbox decorated with chasing, Julius Keibel, length 8.5 cm, St. Petersburg, 1853Golden snuffbox decorated with painted enamel on a classical subject, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, length 9.3 cm, St. Petersburg, 1830-1840.Oval golden snuffbox, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, length 8 cm, St. Petersburg, 1830-1840Golden snuff box with views of St. Petersburg (view of Palace Square, the monument to Peter the Great, the stock exchange and the fortresses of Peter and Paul), the box is decorated with guilloché and champlevé enamel, length 9.2 cm, St. Petersburg, circa 1860Multi-colored gold box with enamel and figured legs in the form of eagles, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, length 15 cm, St. Petersburg, first quarter of the 19th centuryMulti-colored gold snuff box with the monogram of Tsar Alexander I on blue enamel framed with diamonds, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, length 8.6 cm, St. Petersburg, first quarter of the 19th centuryMulti-colored gold snuff box with the monogram of Tsar Nicholas I on blue enamel framed with thirty diamonds, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, length 9 cm, St. Petersburg, 1834-1851Four-color gold snuffbox with enamel and precious stones, the lid is decorated with a golden portrait of Alexander I on a white enamel background, framed by a laurel wreath, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, length 7 cm, St. Petersburg, 1825Snuffbox made of multicolored gold with enamel, St. PetersburgFour-color gold box with miniature fruit harvest (probably by Henri Joseph van Blarenberg, France, Lille, 1750-1826), Johann-Wilhelm Keibel, St. Petersburg, circa 1820, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkGolden box made of four-color gold with Roman micromosaic depicting the Pantheon in the neoclassical style, St. PetersburgAn ornate two-tone gold snuff box set with diamonds and a diamond-shaped setting with emeralds and rubies, in the center of which is an octagonal step-cut emerald, Johann Wilhelm Keibel, St. Petersburg, 1845Golden box, decorated with a carnelian button with an engraved coat of arms, length 5.2 cm, St. Petersburg, 1810Golden box decorated with blue enamel, engraved on the lid with a rococo scene with a pair of hunters, two hounds and a putto in a forest landscape, the base and sides are also engraved with rococo figures, flowers and a rocaille ornament on a dark blue background, length 9.2 cm , Johann Wilhelm Keibel, St. Petersburg, 1846
