This snuffbox is illustrated by Osvaldo Patrizzi and Fabienne- Xavière Sturm in Montres de Fantaisie 1790-1850, Genève, 1979, fig. 54. Similar boxes are illustrated in A. Chapuis, History of the Musical Boxes, pp. 140 and 141, fig. 125 to 128. In a North American collection there exists an almost identical box, also oval, with a very similar scene and an identical musical movement signed John Rich. The same movement can be found in another box, with similar scene, sold by Antiquorum in Geneva on October 22, 1995, lot 800. It leaves little doubt as to the maker of the present box. Movements of this type with six hammers and six bells are extremely rare, musical movements being usually fitted with five bells and five hammers only. Jean-Louis Richter (1766-1841) He learned his art under David-Etienne-Roux and Philippe-Samuel-Théodore Roux. He specialized in landscapes, lake-side scenes and marine-scapes, often representing ships in a harbor or battles with Men-of-War, but also portraits and hunting scenes. Richter did not often sign his work, but he style and quality of the painting make it clearly recognizable as being in his hand. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff boxes and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, British and Italian markets. John Rich He is an enigmatic figure. There are samples of his work that are so magnificent that one would think that there would be an abundance of material concerning him, yet this is not the case. Some of the most complicated automata, such as The Magician Box, or the Sandoz Scent Bottle, are signed by him. Alfred Chapuis and Edmond Droz, authorities on automata, described the Magician as "the most remarkable snuffbox known to the authors". It is signed "Made by John Rich", but only on the barrel. The piece must be taken apart for the maker?s name to be seen. Some boxes that we have examined or restored are signed "John Rich, London" or "John Rich, London & Genève", while yet others, mechanically identical, are not signed at all. The same is true of his watches; if they are signed, it is very often in such an unobtrusive place that only a watchmaker who has taken the piece apart would see them. Granted, some of the great automata makers did not as a rule visibly sign their pieces, but they were very well-known, and there is plenty of information about them. But not about John Rich. The idea has been advanced that Rich came from England and opened a shop in Geneva. Furthermore, since Rich's work shows certain characteristics of the work of the Jaquet Droz and Leschot, we believe that they were made by a master craftsman (or craftsmen) associated with them. Rich's work can be dated no earlier than 1780 and no later than the first few years of the nineteenth century, spanning probably from about 1780 to 1805 or slightly afterwards; a quarter of a century of magnificent mechanical achievements, without leaving any information for posterity but the work itself. The magnificence of his work and the mystery surrounding him, fascinate us to the point that we decided to do research to try and solve this puzzle. Although it is still in progress, we have found some leads which in the future will hopefully give us the entire picture of the man and his work. In terms of hard evidence, we have found two previously unknown documents, one dated 7 Germinal An 7 (28 March 1801) recording the establishment of a partnership between a certain Decombaz and John Rich in Geneva, and another dated 22 vendémiaire an 14 (14 October 1805) recording the dissolution of that partnership. The Decombaz mentioned was very likely the famous one who was active from 1780 until after 1820. We know that Decombaz specialized in perpétuelle and Grande Sonnerie watches, and that he supplied Leschot (and probably Jaquet Droz before him) and Breguet with finished movements.