Taking snuff (powdered tobacco) became a fashionable pursuit in the early years of the eighteenth century. Ladies and gentlemen would offer each other snuff from rich, elegant boxes in the latest styles. This box is set with panels of mother of pearl, carved with a couple in court dress and with cherubs. The panels are reverse painted with landscapes, now faded. When new, the box would have been even more vividly coloured. The waved gold mounts are typical of boxes made in the 1740s and 50s in France.

Little is known of Jacques-André Delisle, the maker of this box. He joined the goldsmith's guild by letters patent in July 1718 and registered his mark as a goldsmith in 1720, sponsored by the gold-box maker Pierre de Roussy.

Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world’s great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.