Sedan Chair with Perfume Flasks, Goldsmith’s Work in the Style of Johann Melchior Dinglinger, probably Saxony, circa 1700

Finely crafted goldsmith’s work in the form of an oriental sedan chair richly decorated with enamel. The piece features a small superstructure fitted with blue glass perfume flasks. The sides are set with turquoise cabochons, with additional smaller turquoise stones applied to the frame. Four of the glass flasks are later replacements. The sedan chair was originally supported by sculptural bearer figures, now missing. The work was likely created in the circle or workshop tradition of Johann Melchior Dinglinger (1664–1731), court jeweler to Augustus the Strong in Dresden. A comparable object is held in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, catalogued as a German work of the 17th century. Illustrated in: Art Treasures of Russia, St. Petersburg, 1902.