Earlier this year Cleveland Museum of Art acquired an ornate gold snuffbox made by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, the Turin-born French craftsman who in 1724 became Master Goldsmith at the court of Louis XV. Many of Meissonnier’s pieces were melted down or lost during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, so the acquisition of this box – one of only five objects designed by Meissonnier from precious metals that have survived – was a coup. It’s one of the highlights of an exhibition dedicated to Meissonnier, which features another pièce de résistance of Cleveland’s collection, a virtuosic silver tureen made in 1735–38, as well as several loans from the Louvre and the Musée des Arts décoratifs, including a rock crystal ewer that once belonged to Marie Antoinette (25 October–14 March 2027).
Find out more from Cleveland Museum of Art’s website
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