Snuff grater
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
Silver, engraved, with steel grating plate
- Credit Line:
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56c, case 4
- Download image
Object Type
This box has a hinged lid and two compartments. A block of compressed powdered snuff would have been kept in the smaller one, while the larger compartment, fitted with a perforated grater, would have held the grated snuff powder. The tightly closing lid is essential for keeping snuff dry. Loose powdered snuff was usually kept in a hinged box with a single compartment. In the home snuff was kept in bottles and jars.
Source
From the 1620s tobacco was usually imported to England from the North American Colonies, especially Virginia. The spices came from the East Indies, imported by the Dutch and English East India Companies.
Ownership & Use
A block of compressed powdered snuff would be grated into a fine powder, which was pinched between the fingers and inhaled. Originally used for medicinal purposes, snuff-taking became fully established as a pleasurable, social custom by 1700. It was taken primarily by men, and throughout the 18th century, increasingly, by women. This lid is engraved with the monogram 'HE' for the Edmonds family of Yorkshire, and with the family crest of a three-masted ship in full sail.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
ca. 1700 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Silver, engraved, with steel grating plate
Marks and inscriptions
Crest and monogram
Dimensions
Height: 12.9 cm, Width: 4.3 cm maximum, Depth: 1.2 cm
Object history note
Made in England
Labels and date
British Galleries:
Snuff-taking was a fashionable social custom by 1750. Snuff consisted of compressed blocks of powdered tobacco imported from the West Indies, combined with aromatic spices such as cloves or cinnamon. The blocks were grated into a fine powder, which was pinched between the fingers and inhaled. This snuff box has two compartments, one to hold the snuff, the other fitted with a grater. [27/03/2003]
Text written about this object for 'Uncomfortable Truths / Traces of the Trade' gallery trails (Trail 3: 'Britain & The West Indies'), 20 February - 31 December 2007. Helen Mears & Janet Browne (additional interpretation by actor Rudolph Walker).
'SNUFF GRATER / Europeans first discovered tobacco through their encounters with the indigenous peoples of the Americas, who used it in barter and trade. A robust and easily adaptable plant, it was transferred in the early 17th century to Britain's colonies in the southern states of America and the West Indies.
This snuff box has a hinged lid and two compartments. A block of compressed, powdered snuff would have been kept in the smaller one, while the larger compartment, fitted with a perforated grater, would have held the grated snuff powder. The tightly closing lid is essential for keeping snuff dry. This lid is engraved with the monogram 'HE' for the Edmonds family of Yorkshire and the family crest of a three-masted ship in full sail.
'Interesting that a ship is the engraved image on the grater, particularly when you remember the way slaves were transported from Africa and the agonising torture of the Middle Passage, many to harvest this tobacco crop. Interesting the accessibility to cigarettes today and the numerous health warnings that come with them.'
Rudolph Walker OBE' [20/02/2007]
Categories
Containers; Personal accessories; Metalwork
Collection code
MET
