Snuffbox with miniature depicting departure of Telemachus from Egypt

In eighteenth-century Europe, Paris led the production of high-quality luxury goods. Parisian goldsmiths created a wide range of small, personal articles such as snuffboxes; étuis to hold sealing wax, tweezers, or utensils for sewing; souvenirs which contained thin ivory tablets for note taking, shuttles for knotting trim, and containers for cosmetics or candies.

The enamel miniature painted in grisaille on the cover is copied from an engraving in the Paris edition of Fénelon’s Les Adventures de Télémaque, published between 1773 and 1785. Although this novel originally appeared in 1699, the eighteenth-century edition became an important source for a range of artists. The composition depicts the departure of Telemachus from Egypt. Very similar miniatures are known on snuffboxes in other collections (Musée du Louvre [inv. No. OA 6778], Victoria and Albert Museum [Gilbert Collection 1039-2008]). The Louvre snuffbox was made by Esaias Obicker in Hanau, Germany during the last quarter of the 18th century; Created in Paris, the V&A’s box is dated 1786-87, while The Met’s box, also made in Paris, dates to 1780–81. The unsigned miniatures appear to be by the same hand.

The repeat motif of the engine-turning on 48.187.456 is highly effective in capturing the shifting play of light. The yellow color of the translucent enamel is found on other boxes of similar date. More frequently, however, ruby red, dark blue, dark green, gold, orange, turquoise and powder blue are used. The pattern of pearls and leaves enameled in white and green, frequently against a matte ground, is often seen on boxes of ca. 1780.

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.