Featured What is this little silver box?

Hello everyone,

I have a small round metal box that my grandmother gave me approximately 45 years ago. She did not know what it was either.

Details:

• Diameter: 43 mm
• Thickness: 10 mm
• Appears silver plated (pics before and after polishing)
• No hallmarks or maker's marks anywhere
• Lid has a rural/farm scene in relief
• Two rotating halves
• Oval side openings align when rotated and can be opened or closed (ca. 2.5x7mm)
• Contains a removable S-shaped spring insert

I have no idea whether it was used for snuff, perfume, sewing accessories, or something else entirely.

Any help identifying its purpose, age, or country of origin would be greatly appreciated.

 

That is from Google Lens, but yours doesn't have a hinge.

 

At a guess, it held a tape measure.

Debora

 

A good guess, but then why a divider in it?

 

There's lots of these to be found with a Google Images search. The internet says Danish Hans Jensen pill box. The divider would allow it to hold two different types of pills. Top could be twisted between mini-compartments. And the figures appear to be playing music. I see a violin bow and an ad hoc drum.

Debora

 

The scene is probably from a Dutch painting, they usually are. Jan Steen is popular for silver and silverplate boxes, but he is not the only one.

 

This item renders the image a bit clearer.

Debora

 

It could also be after a painting by one of the van Ostade brothers.

 

I've had snuff boxes with that hole in the side......twist and tap , for a pinch !

 

Snuff in one side of the spring, chunk of apple to provide moisture on the other?
Just guessing here...

 

Thanks so far! I was thinking a pill box, but the hole is so small, the pills would have to be tiny. Without knowing, I would guess a snuff-box.

 

Ach-Jan Steen, what a guy, love his 'down to earth' paintings ! Frans Hals spontaneous brushwork is like life itself, but Steen tells it like it was and still is.
Quote-"Jan Steen, the 17th-century master famous for rowdy, chaotic, and bawdy genre scenes. His works depict drinking, brawling, and messy households so wild that the Dutch still use the phrase "a Jan Steen household" to describe domestic chaos.
PS- I kept pulling my Wife over to his paintings going-'What's that little couple doing over in .... ?'.