Case known as the Rostopchin box

This ornate box, decorated with a micromosaic of a sitting dog, offers nothing in the way of maker's stamp or hallmark. It is generally believed that the box was found on Rostopchin's desk after the Moscow fire in 1812. A written note dating from the nineteenth-century accompanies the object and indicates that it belonged to Feodor Rostopchin (1765-1826), governor of Moscow, who left it on his desk after fire broke out in the Kremlin. It continues to note that the box was brought back from Russia and later purchased by Baron Ruphy for seven hundred Francs.