This snuffbox is one of the rare examples on which the enamel decoration is signed. The painted enamel scenes are typical of the European taste from the 1760s to 1780s. In the 1760s, Schindler decorated several boxes and at least one étui with subjects after the painter David Teniers the Younger. Schindler's later enamels, of which this is an example, were often executed 'en grisaille' (monochrome) to resemble a cameo, and sometimes had their source in paintings by François Boucher. Enamellers also imitated natural materials: Here the green enamel imitates marble and the blue imitates a grey-banded agate.

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.