Snuff Box
goldsmith Johann Christian Neuber (German, 1736–1808; active Dresden 1762-c.1800)
c. 1780–90
- Medium
- gold, multi-colored hardstone
- Classification
- Miscellaneous
- Dimensions
- Overall: 2.9 x 5.7 x 4.3 cm (1 1/8 x 2 1/4 x 1 11/16 in.)
- Culture
- Germany, Dresden
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Decorative Art and Design
- Credit line
- Gift of Howard F. Stirn
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Snuff was a scented form of tobacco powder, traditionally sniffed for maximum effect. The practice of inhaling a pinch of snuff was common in England during the 1600s and became widespread in other countries in the 1700s. The demand for decorated snuffboxes, considered valuable gifts, increased as the practice spread. Some were small enough to fit in a waistcoat pocket and gave 18th-century craftsmen an opportunity to execute rich and elaborate designs on a small scale. One of the most talented German goldsmiths, Johann Christian Neuber, was particularly adept at cutting and insetting rare hardstones sourced from the rich mines of northern Germany. He created a kaleidoscope of color on every surface of this little box in radiant patterns. Neuber's work was so renowned that he was made court jeweler to the elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus the Third (1750-1827) in 1775.
