Tobacco Box
early 18th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This tobacco box is superbly engraved with scenes intended to stimulate conversation. The compartments depict a woman committing adultery in view of her husband inscribed: 'How can a young woman bully an old man Another makes the baby and I like a mother rock the cradle?'; a loveless marriage inscribed: 'I have an old husband who gives me no pleasure, but Venus manages the business so that I have no reason to complain'; and a false bottom which shows a happy family with the inscription: 'One finds nothing so sweet in fidelity as love between a man and a wife'.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Brass, sheet and cast, engraved |
| Brief description | Brass tobacco box, The Netherlands, early 18th century. |
| Physical description | Engraved on the lid: Aeneas Rescuing Anchises from burning Troy; on the inside of the lid , a scene of adultery, and an inscription which translates, How can a young woman bully an old man? Another makes the baby, and I like a mother must rock the cradle. The box has a secret lid engraved with a domestic scene and: I have an old husband who gives me no pleasure, but Venus manages the business so that I have no reason to complain, on one side; on the other a woman hitting a man with her chatelaine, and the inscription, O miserable marriage, would that you had never taken place. The base has a false bottom, and the two scenes show a happy family, with the inscription, one finds nothing so sweet in fidelity as love between man and wife, and a warrior pursuing a woman with children, with the inscription, where man despises true love there is a land that stands in evil. The underside is engraved with Alexander visiting Diogenes. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | BADA 2004 Exhibition label:
TOBACCO BOX
Brass, The Netherlands, early 18th-century
This tobacco box contains several compartments all exquisitely engraved with scenes illustrating the virtues of a sober family life. Inside the lid a woman is depicted committing adultery in full view of her husband. An inscription in Dutch translates as, "How can a young woman bully an old man? Another makes the baby and I like a mother rock the cradle".
Another compartment is engraved with a domestic scene and the inscription 'I have an old husband who gives me no pleasure, but Venus manages the business so that I have no reason to complain'. The base has a false bottom. Its lid depicts a happy family, with the inscription, 'One finds nothing so sweet in fidelity as love between a man and wife',
The two exterior faces show scenes from classical mythology: Aeneas escaping burning Troy with his father Anchises, and Alexander visiting Diogenes.
M.175-1939(March 2004) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Miss Ethel Gurney |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This tobacco box is superbly engraved with scenes intended to stimulate conversation. The compartments depict a woman committing adultery in view of her husband inscribed: 'How can a young woman bully an old man Another makes the baby and I like a mother rock the cradle?'; a loveless marriage inscribed: 'I have an old husband who gives me no pleasure, but Venus manages the business so that I have no reason to complain'; and a false bottom which shows a happy family with the inscription: 'One finds nothing so sweet in fidelity as love between a man and a wife'. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.175-1939 |
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| Record created | August 29, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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