Snuff Box Lid

9.5 x 6.3 cm

This small and intricate image of a jeweller at work consists of hundreds of pieces of stone and was designed as a snuff box lid. The reverse has a pattern in stone and is only 3mm thick. These minute pieces have been cut, shaped and fitted together with great precision so you can see no glue between the pieces.

Green jasper for the jeweller’s coat and lapis lazuli for the trousers were carefully selected so that the shading in the stones was positioned in the right places to create the effect of folds in the clothes. Mother of pearl coins were inlaid into the brown paesina work bench.