French Gold Box Greetings Card

This striking box is decorated with Chinoiserie scenes in translucent blue enamel on every side. Enamellers in the eighteenth century often took their decorative schemes from print sources and on this box each scene can be identified as being a scene after François Boucher.

Snuffboxes played an important role in fashion and self-promotion, in diplomacy and, in the 19th century, in collecting. Often they were used as a currency for their monetary values and the status they could embody. Their practical purpose was often secondary – they were highly valued as art objects in their own right. Gold boxes were a barometer of the taste of the time and exemplify the skills of not only goldsmiths, but also enamellers, lapidaries and miniature painters.

• Blank inside
• Dimensions: 16cm x 11.5cm
• Printed in the UK
• Object details: Snuff Box, Hubert Cheval, Paris, 1749-50, G8, The Wallace Collection, London.