Snuffbox (part of a set)

Small chests specially fitted out to contain a variety of luxurious toilet articles, especially for use during travel, were referred to as nécessaires. A nécessaire might also, as the duchesse d’Orleans (Élisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate), who first used this term in a letter of 1718, include “all that is essential for taking tea, coffee and chocolate.”

The set 1976.155.47–.58 epitomizes the role of the marchand-mercier (dealer in luxury goods) who presumably would have commissioned the goldsmith Jean Écosse to make the spoons (marked 1728-30), Louis Mailly to make the bottle stoppers (1728–30) and Noël Hardivillers to make the rim of the small box. The craftsman responsible for the cutting and polishing of the rock crystal objects remains unidentified as is the cabinetmaker who made the marquetry box to store and keep the valuable items safe during travel.

Jean Écosse who became master in Paris in 1705 and died in 1743, created one of the earliest known gold mounts for a Meissen covered bowl in 1734 (see 68.141.285a, b). Among his output is also a gold-mounted rock crystal ewer of 1731 which later was owned by Marie Antoinette. (Louvre OA 6616-6617)

In June 1750, the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux supplied a customer with a necessaire containing not only rock crystal and gold flasks, a funnel to fill the flasks and a gold-mounted beaker but also a box for soap and another for a sponge, a mirror, a tortoiseshell and gold comb, an ear-pick, toothpick and tweezers all in gold.