The unique burr wood snuff box of cylindrical form and super colour, the flush-hinged cover carved and applied with a central skull and the interior being tortoiseshell lined, the whole surviving from early Victorian period England.
Unknown.
The sculpting here of the skull is good and the timber used very fine. It would have essentially been designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the brevity and fragility of human life in the face of God and nature. Symbolic of the transience of all human existence, the image of the skull has been used by philosophers and theologians, artists and sculptors, writers and poets for centuries to provoke meditative thought on the indiscriminate nature of death.
Snuffboxes were used for containing snuff, a mixture of ground tobacco and scented oils, and were very popular in the 18th century when snuff-taking was fashionable. Highly decorated and valuable objects, they became collectors’ items in the 19th century.
A magnificent tactile object of high quality and collectability.
The box is complete without any losses, the only defect being a small hairline to one end as photographed. The beautiful timber has taken on an established patina and the tortoiseshell interior is complete.
By appointment only.
