Object Description
A well carved engine turned coquilla nut snuff bottle in four sections, having a finial with a screw thread, incorporating a stanhope depicting a rural landscape. The delicately carved centre section has a vacant interior for the snuff, with a screw threaded removable concave base.
Stanhopes are optical devices that enable the viewing of microphotographs without having to use a microscope. They were invented by a Frenchman, Rene Dagrun, in 1857. Many different artifacts were made and he exhibited them at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1859, from that time they became very popular.