Snuffbox

Small gold boxes intended to hold snuff, a form of powdered and often scented tobacco, became a focus of an elaborate social ritual and a symbol of extravagance and vanity in eighteenth-century France.

The containers were usually of such luxurious nature that they were the ultimate fashion accessories in eighteenth-century Europe and were frequently given as presents. Beginning in the 1720s and continuing up to the French Revolution, snuff boxes were produced in significant quantities.

After the middle of the 18th century, the decorative motifs and swirling scrolls of the rococo were gradually replaced by motifs derived from classical architecture, as evident on this box. The fluted bands and regular divisions of the sides and cover into circular and rectangular panels exemplify the developing neo-classical vocabulary.

Henceforth, the edge of the lid – a separation ignored in the previous decade – is clearly marked by a border pattern. Varicolored gold enriches the medallions which depict musicians on the cover and rural pursuits on the sides.

Daughter of one of the founders of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Catherine D. Wentworth (1865–1948) was an art student and painter who lived in France for thirty years. She became one of the most important American collectors of eighteenth-century French silver and on her death in 1948 bequeathed part of her significant collection of silver, gold boxes, French furniture and textiles to the Metropolitan Museum.