Snuff, a tobacco derivative, was first produced in the late seventeenth century, and shortly thereafter the snuffbox made its appearance. These diminutive containers, patterned after tobacco boxes, were fabricated in materials such as horn, wood, brass, tortoiseshell, enamels, porcelain, silver, and even gold. The boxes were personal and precious objects, often embellished with engraved or raised decoration. This example is engine-turned, a process introduced during the second quarter of the nineteenth century.

Technical notes: The lid is fitted with a seven-part hinge.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff.  American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.