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.



An unusually large number of boxes by Jean-Joseph Barrière have survived. Whereas most box makers tended to submerge individuality to the demands of fashion, Barrière’s style is remarkably homogenous, characterized by a distinct grace and careful balance between gold work and enameling.



Here, borders of translucent enamel green, yellow, brown and eggplant-colored insects frame panels of engine-turned decoration. The corners are defined by abstract designs which subtly create the effect of classical columns.



Within a few years, Parisian goldsmiths would use the engine-turned patterns as seen on this box as a ground for translucent enamel. (see, for example, 17.190.1163)



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.