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.

According to Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie, published between 1751 and 1772, a solid gold snuffbox, like this one, was referred to by the makers as a tabatière plaine. Regardless of the decoration of a snuffbox, the manufacturing process was consistent. An interior box provided an airtight and perfectly smooth container to hold the snuff, and an exterior box (or later, a cage or frame) held the decoration. A round box such as this was made by forming a strip of gold around a maindron, a block of wood of the dimensions of the interior of the box. The vertical edges and the base were then soldered together; the lid is made in the same way. The hinge joins the lid to the box. Prior to assembling the box, the various components were sent to the guild for assaying, to determine that the gold was of the correct purity. After taxes were paid, each part of the box was marked by the guild and returned to the maker for further embellishment.

Decoration was generally undertaken by specialists working in their own workshops. It is likely that a specialized turner engraved this box by hand or machine on a turning lathe to create the basketry patterned decoration.

Snuff was used by women as well as by men. Whereas men carried snuff boxes in a coat or waistcoat pocket, women carried their necessities in a reticule or pochette, a small drawstring bag. The ritual of taking snuff involved balancing the box in one hand, opening its lid, while taking a pinch with the other, thereby establishing the size, shape and weight of the box. The integral hinged lid minimized any spillage and had to fit snugly to keep the contents dry. The absence of apparent solder and the beautifully engineered hinges are evidence of the extraordinary skill of their makers.

The French writer Louis-Sébastien Mercier observed in 1781 that “there are boxes for each season. The one for winter is heavy; that for summer light. There are those who carry this refinement to the extent of changing boxes every day: it is by this distinctive touch that one may recognize the man of taste.”

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.