Box thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 139, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Box

ca. 1745 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This box was probably a portable container for snuff. Snuff was made of fermented tobacco mixed with various perfumed oils, herbs or spices and compressed into a block, which was then grated to make a fine powder ready for inhalation. Tobacco was originally discovered by Europeans through their encounters with the indigenous peoples of the Americas who used it in barter and trade. It came into general use in Western Europe around 1570 where it was highly prized for its medicinal and narcotic properties. By the 1630s it was used by all classes, despite its cost.

Germany was one of the first European countries to establish methods of processing tobacco, around 1643. Tobacco could be smoked through cheap, disposable pipes but the wealthy preferred to take it as snuff and snuff boxes became status objects. The lid of this snuff box presents a contemporary image of affluence and style. A view of a large moated building and city dwellings provides a background for three fashionably-dressed European figures who stand beside an imposing statue in the foreground. The female figure is protected from the sun by a parasol held by a turbaned black figure. Like tobacco, African servants offered exotic associations and were a marker of luxury within the European home.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilt, mounted in gilt copper
Brief description
Box featuring scene with group of Europeans and black servant, hard-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilt, mounted in gilt copper, painted by Christian Friedrich Herold, made by Meissen porcelain factory, Germany, ca. 1745
Physical description
Box of hard-paste porcelain. Rectangular, with incurved corners. Painted in enamel colours and gilt, mounted in gilt copper. Lid painted with outdoor scene, three Europeans in foreground with black servant holding parasol, next to statue; large castle-like moated building in mid-ground (possibly scene of Dresden?); whole enclosed by borders of rococo scrollwork. Underneath a harbour scene with ships and figures.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4.1cm
  • Length: 8.7cm
  • Width: 7.1cm
Credit line
Given by Mrs Carew from the Farquhar Matheson Collection
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
This box was probably a portable container for snuff. Snuff was made of fermented tobacco mixed with various perfumed oils, herbs or spices and compressed into a block, which was then grated to make a fine powder ready for inhalation. Tobacco was originally discovered by Europeans through their encounters with the indigenous peoples of the Americas who used it in barter and trade. It came into general use in Western Europe around 1570 where it was highly prized for its medicinal and narcotic properties. By the 1630s it was used by all classes, despite its cost.

Germany was one of the first European countries to establish methods of processing tobacco, around 1643. Tobacco could be smoked through cheap, disposable pipes but the wealthy preferred to take it as snuff and snuff boxes became status objects. The lid of this snuff box presents a contemporary image of affluence and style. A view of a large moated building and city dwellings provides a background for three fashionably-dressed European figures who stand beside an imposing statue in the foreground. The female figure is protected from the sun by a parasol held by a turbaned black figure. Like tobacco, African servants offered exotic associations and were a marker of luxury within the European home.
Bibliographic references
  • Honey, W. B. Dresden china: an introduction to the study of Meissen porcelain. London: A. & C. Black, 1946, Pl. XXX (f), pp. 69, 96, 127.
  • Honey, W. B. German porcelain London: Faber and Faber, 1947, Pl. 6D.
Collection
Accession number
C.541-1921

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Record createdMay 3, 2006
Record URL
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