Unmarked Art Nouveau copper trinket box – does anyone recognise the design or maker?

Hi everyone,

I am looking to sell this small trinket/pill box for my Grandad. I'm hoping someone might recognise the design or know who made it.

It is approximately 4 cm in diameter and 2 cm high with a lift-off lid (not hinged). There are no maker's marks anywhere on the box.

The lid has a detailed embossed (copper?) relief showing a woman painting beneath a tree, with what looks like a lyre hanging from the branches and a painter's palette in the foreground. The body appears to be brass.

I've searched eBay and Google Lens but haven't been able to find another example with this exact scene. I'm wondering whether the relief is copied from a known Art Nouveau plaque or medal, or whether anyone recognises the manufacturer.

Any information on the age, maker, the artwork depicted, or similar examples would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Snuff box - open by Kelly Chidwick posted Jul 26, 2026 at 9:20 PM

Snuff box - lid by Kelly Chidwick posted Jul 26, 2026 at 9:20 PM

Snuff box - side by Kelly Chidwick posted Jul 26, 2026 at 9:20 PM

Snuff box - base by Kelly Chidwick posted Jul 26, 2026 at 9:20 PM

 

She's not a lady; she has wings. So a fairy. And Google Images brings up other boxes. Here's one:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/399422215/19th-century-art-nouveau-pillsnuff-box

And here's a button with the same scene:



Debora

 

Hi, Kelly. Are we looking at the same thing? I see no tree, no lyre, & the female figure is holding the palette while she paints the colors onto a peacock that is standing on a vine-wrapped plinth. There is a toppled wine jug near her feet.

The feel of the whole composition is art nouveau, but of course could have been designed then or any time later. With the wings Debra points out, she looks more like a nymph. The scene is rather a mashup of neoclassical imagery. Earlier one would have seen Muse-like figures representing the arts:



or geniuses:



The peacock is the companion animal of the goddess Hera/Juno, and the winged artist wears a diadem, a conventional attribute of Hera, so there may be an allusion there. The wine jug is more appropriate to bacchanalian figures & scenes.

 

Speaking of Art Nouveau and peacocks... Just came across something I'd never seen before and wouldn't mind owning.

Debora

 

Could the 'snuff' box be a patch box?

 

Too late for either, I'd think.

Debora

 

Well, that explains it.