Snuff Box

Oval gold snuff box decorated with a political map in opaque enamel. On the lid the map includes Anatolia, the Balkans, Crete, the Morean peninsular, the Black Sea, and part of Italy, North Africa and the Middle East; and on the body the Arabian peninsular, part of Asia and Africa, Cyprus and Anatolia. The place names are written in Ottoman Turkish. Political boundaries are outlined in dark tones. On the short sides of the box are map scales, a depiction of a telescope and a globe, and a landscape featuring a sailing ship flying a Turkish flag, rowing boats and buildings. The inside of the lid is decorated with an oval medallion containing a composition of astronomical and navigational instruments and flowers on a semi transparent pink enamelled guilloché engraved ground, surrounded by an undulating frieze embellished with champlevé flower motifs. The enamelling in pink, green, blue, black, white, yellow, red and mauve lends the box a colourful appearance.
Reference: Tokyo 2002: Türkiye Kültür Hazinelerinden Seçme Eserler, Sadberk Hanım Müzesi Koleksiyonu,
Tokyo, 2002, p.176, no.487; Bilgi, H., - İ., Zanbak, Cevher, Sadberk Hanım Müzesi Koleksiyonundan Mineli ve Murassa Eserler, Jewel, Enamelled and Jewelled Objects from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection, Sadberk Hanım Museum Publication, İstanbul, 2015, pp. 196, 197.