Snuff Box
1818/19
Medium
Gold and enamels
Dimensions
2.9 × 7.8 × 5.3 cm (1 1/8 × 3 1/16 × 2 1/16 in.)
Classification
snuff box
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
73179
Art Historical Context
This snuff box, created in 1818 or 1819 by the maker known as A.J.S., is a compact luxury object from the Applied Arts of Europe collection. Fashioned from gold and decorated with enamels, it measures just under three centimeters in height and was designed to be easily carried. Such small-scale works highlight the precision of early 19th-century goldsmithing and enamel techniques, in which powdered glass was fused to metal to produce durable, colorful surfaces. Snuff boxes like this one were everyday yet highly personal items among Europe’s elite, used to hold powdered tobacco. Beyond their p...