This snuffbox was made around 1760, almost certainly in Dresden, the capital of Saxony, today part of Germany. Taking snuff had become a far spread habit by this time, and was equally pursued by men and women. Elaborate boxes for tobacco therefore were a common accessory in the eighteenth century, created in a wide range of materials and for all levels of society.

Dresden was a centre of the production of precious snuffboxes that is unique in Europe at the time in two respects: the use of materials with porcelain and hard stones more frequently used then elsewhere, as well as the distinct and individual signature styles developed by some makers in the city, most notably Johann Christian Neuber, Christian Gottlieb Stiehl and Heinrich Taddel. In contrast to virtually all other centres of gold box production on the continent, their boxes differed markedly from designs developed in Paris.

The use of hard stone, in this case lapis lazuli, inlaid with gold and burgau shell is typical for snuffboxes currently attributed to the workshop of Heinrich Taddel (ca. 1715-1794) who also was a privy councillor to Elector Frederick Augustus of Saxony (1696-1763) from 1748 onwards. As part of this role, Taddel advised on the conservation and display of the elector’s famous collections in the Green Vault, as well as mining hardstones in Saxony.

The box shows the transition and fusion of styles during the second half of the eighteenth century: While the overall octagonal form of the box is clearly neoclassical, its decoration still harks back at the chinoiserie fashion of earlier decades.

Sir Arthur Gilbert (1913-2001) and his wife Rosalinde (1913-1995) formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert moved his extraordinary collection to London in 1996, it is on long-term loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.