My gold snuff box… not!

It’s a biscuit tin: Kemp’s Chocolate Biscuits





I bought it because it is patterned after a gold snuff box in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Though I can only afford pictures of them, I have a passion for gold snuff boxes. It’s rare… any of the dozen or so online at any given time will tell you so. I think I got it for a decent price, but not like a thrift store or garage sale. Not in perfect condition, but pretty good. It’s small for a biscuit tin: 4 7/8" (12.5cm) side to side, 3 5/8" (9.3cm) front to back, 2 7/16" (6.1cm) high.

I was going to post it in the finds thread, but…

The theme of the tin is the four seasons. Because of the “credits” on the bottom, the scene on that surface (autumn) was sacrificed. I wanted all the scenes.



Fortunately, the V&A has the snuff box posted online. They don’t know the maker, give the date as 1760/61, and name the enamellist as Le Sueur. The photos aren’t comprehensive, but they do show the bottom.

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O377107/box-le-sueur/

I downloaded that photo and made up a little card that fits the bottom of the tin. Because of the way the metal is folded, there’s a bit of a lip inside that recessed bottom. The card didn’t need to be fastened. A bit of a force fit and It sits there securely, with no damage to the tin.







I was going to post it here, but…

I wanted to say something about how the size of the tin compares to the size of the snuff box: 2.75” (7cm) side to side, 2” (5.1cm) front to back, 1.5” (3.8cm) high. The dimensions of the tin are a little bit less than double the dimension of the box. Easy enough to say, but difficult to visualize.

But it occurred to me that, between the V&A listing and my photos of the tin, I had all the necessary data to make a scale model, which I did out of cardboard and paper. Building the model also allowed me to put what I think is the correct type of lid on my model, and to eliminate the recessed bottom.







Here are the two together, with various stuff to give yet another idea of scale. I made two of these things. One seemed to be going wrong so I started another, but then I went back and rescued the first. I’m showing the glue bottle because making those two little boxes required a full bottle of glue that size.

 

One thing I haven't found is when the biscuit tin was made. Does anyone know?

 

Gorgeous! I am so impressed! Until recently I had several of such boxes (none quite so elaborate), in which I kept anything But what the good Brits put in originally. Hated to have to get rid of them.

 

Picture of the proper bottom with the text, please!

 

Mine, of course, lacks the paper label. (I hadn't realized there was more than one variation.)



I must say, though, that to me, the "proper" bottom shows the autumn scene.

 

Wow! I love decorative tins in general, and this one is fabulous. And the miniature you made is even more fabulous. Just ... Wow!!

 

What a really lovely job mos. Congratulations.

 

Beautiful workmanship Mos !!! .. I also adore the little miniature one you made .. beautiful !! .... Joy. WOW - 4 dots because I'm so impressed -

 

I hadn't looked that up, but it's not surprising. Boucher was very successful, well known, popular. It was common enough practice that enamels on boxes were copied from, or interpretations of, contemporary art.

In looking at catalogs and such, I'm always impressed by the researchers' ability to find etchings and engravings that seem to me to be really obscure, but are, nevertheless, source material for enameled scenes.

Art imagery got around a lot more than might be imagined... due to the publication of prints.