Box
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.
In the late 1750s, the decorative forms of the rococo – sweeping foliate scrolls and delicate floral arrangements – were gradually replaced by motifs derived from the classical vocabulary, such as the laurel leaf garlands and framed trophies as seen on the sides.
There are many accounts of extraordinary collections of gold boxes in the eighteenth century. As early as 1723, the Regent, Philippe, Duc d’Orleans, was reputed to have a different snuffbox for every day of the year, while Heinrich Count von Brühl, the director of the Meissen porcelain factory was said to have owned “upwards of 700 snuff-boxes” according to James Boswell, the Scottish biographer and diarist. While this estimate is generally considered to be an exaggeration, John Moore author of the travelogue “A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland and Germany”, published in 1781, noted after visiting the late Brühl’s house: “They tell us that the Count had at least three hundred different suits of clothes…A painting of each suit with the particular cane and snuff-box belonging to it, was very accurately drawn in a large book, which was presented to His Excellency every morning by his Valet du Chambre, that he might fix upon the dress in which he wished to appear for the day.”
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.
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.
In the late 1750s, the decorative forms of the rococo – sweeping foliate scrolls and delicate floral arrangements – were gradually replaced by motifs derived from the classical vocabulary, such as the laurel leaf garlands and framed trophies as seen on the sides.
There are many accounts of extraordinary collections of gold boxes in the eighteenth century. As early as 1723, the Regent, Philippe, Duc d’Orleans, was reputed to have a different snuffbox for every day of the year, while Heinrich Count von Brühl, the director of the Meissen porcelain factory was said to have owned “upwards of 700 snuff-boxes” according to James Boswell, the Scottish biographer and diarist. While this estimate is generally considered to be an exaggeration, John Moore author of the travelogue “A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland and Germany”, published in 1781, noted after visiting the late Brühl’s house: “They tell us that the Count had at least three hundred different suits of clothes…A painting of each suit with the particular cane and snuff-box belonging to it, was very accurately drawn in a large book, which was presented to His Excellency every morning by his Valet du Chambre, that he might fix upon the dress in which he wished to appear for the day.”
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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Box
- Maker: J. P. M., Paris, France
- Date: 1766–67
- Culture: French, Paris
- Medium: Gold
- Dimensions: Overall: 1 1/4 × 2 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (3.2 × 7 × 4.4 cm)
- Classification: Metalwork-Gold and Platinum
- Credit Line: Bequest of Catherine D. Wentworth, 1948
- Object Number: 48.187.470
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
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