Snuffbox with portrait of a woman

In eighteenth-century Europe, Paris led the production of high-quality luxury goods. Parisian goldsmiths made a wide range of small, personal articles such as snuffboxes; étuis to hold sealing wax, tweezers, or utensils for sewing; souvenirs, which contained thin ivory tablets for note taking; and shuttles for knotting lace. Gold snuffboxes and boxes decorated with portrait miniatures were prized and frequently given as royal gifts, often to ambassadors or members of the court in lieu of cash payments for their services. Coveted and admired, these boxes were produced from a variety of materials. The best were skillfully made of gold and embellished with diamonds, enameled decoration, lacquer, and other luxurious materials. By the middle of the century, the taking of snuff had become an entrenched social ritual, and the snuffbox, too, had become an important social prop. Snuffboxes were considered highly fashionable accessories, with some merchants advertising new boxes with each change of season. The popularity of snuffboxes extended to all levels of society, and for those who could not afford gold, boxes were produced in less expensive materials such as silver, tortoiseshell, porcelain, or domestically produced lacquer.

The miniature is set in the lid of a gold-and-enamel box made by Nicolas Marguerit (master 1763, working to about 1790) in Paris in 1775–76. The box bears five marks, among them the maker’s mark NM and the Paris mark for 1775–76. Although the miniature is contemporaneous with the box, it does not appear to be original to it.

The portrait is probably of the same date as the box; thus it was painted, presumably in France, a year or two before Hurter settled in London.