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.

The undulating shape of this snuff box, dated 1739–40, is a typical example of the rococo style. The top, base and sides are chased with rocaille scrolls and flowers, and include figures of girls with toy animals, a drum and croquet mallet. The small size and domestic nature of the subject matter possibly indicate the box’s use by a woman.

According to Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, published between 1751 and 1772, boxes like this one, made entirely of gold, were referred to as tabatières pleines. Although the actual manufacture of gold boxes was strictly controlled, trade cards indicate that a wide range of merchants and dealers stocked gold boxes.

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 over 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.