Snuff Box
Papier maché snuff or patch box with removable lid, mounted within a glazed box-frame. The base of the patch box is painted black, as is the inside of the lid and the upper rim. The top of the lid features a painting on a tobacco coloured background of Thomas Weston as Scrub with David Garrick a Archer, in a scene from The Beaux Stratagem by George Farquhar, showing the two men seated. A thin painted tobacco-coloured line around the circumference of the painting has the painted inscription in very small black lettering: 'Mr Weston and Mr Garrick in the characters of Scrub and Archer in The Beaux Stratagem. From an original drawing.'
The base of the box is attached to purple velvet-covered card, which forms the back of the frame which has bronze painted decorative leaf-pattern molding. Beneath the box in the frame is a small metal label engraved: 'Charles Kean's Snuff Box'.
The base of the box is attached to purple velvet-covered card, which forms the back of the frame which has bronze painted decorative leaf-pattern molding. Beneath the box in the frame is a small metal label engraved: 'Charles Kean's Snuff Box'.
Object details
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | moulded papier maché; painted and varnished |
| Brief description | Framed painted snuff or patch box owned by Sir John Gielgud but originally owned by the actor-manager Charles Kean, painted with an image of Thomas Weston as Scrub and David Garrick as Archer in The Beaux Stratagem by George Farquhar. |
| Physical description | Papier maché snuff or patch box with removable lid, mounted within a glazed box-frame. The base of the patch box is painted black, as is the inside of the lid and the upper rim. The top of the lid features a painting on a tobacco coloured background of Thomas Weston as Scrub with David Garrick a Archer, in a scene from The Beaux Stratagem by George Farquhar, showing the two men seated. A thin painted tobacco-coloured line around the circumference of the painting has the painted inscription in very small black lettering: 'Mr Weston and Mr Garrick in the characters of Scrub and Archer in The Beaux Stratagem. From an original drawing.' The base of the box is attached to purple velvet-covered card, which forms the back of the frame which has bronze painted decorative leaf-pattern molding. Beneath the box in the frame is a small metal label engraved: 'Charles Kean's Snuff Box'. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Bequeathed by Sir John Gielgud |
| Object history | This snuff box was bequeathed to The Theatre Museum by Sir John Gielgud (1904-2000) and would have been given to him, or purchased by him because of the connection with the actor-manager Charles Kean (1811-1868) |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Associations | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.285-2001 |
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| Record created | April 10, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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