Snuff box

Status

On view

Label Text

Men and women in colonial Virginia enjoyed taking snuff, a preparation of finely ground tobacco often enhanced with aromatic oils, herbs, or spices. Household accounts indicate Martha Washington favored "best Violette Strasberg," a scented snuff popular among women. She probably stored her snuff in this exquisite gold snuffbox with agate lid. Gold snuffboxes were a rare luxury item in 18th-century America. Almost all were imported from England, including this box. There, specially-trained gold chasers expertly hammered lively rococo designs into its flat sides, while an engraver deftly executed the Custis coat of arms on its underside.

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Date1753

Geography Made - England

Medium/TechniqueGold, agate

DimensionsOverall: 3/4 in. x 1 15/16 in. x 1 1/2 in. (1.91 cm x 4.92 cm x 3.81 cm)

Credit LineAcquired through the generosity of Christopher Sargent, G. Paull Sargent, John Sargent, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Gannett, Courtney Hagner, and Mrs. Walter Benson in honor of Mrs. Randall Hagner, Jr, 1981 Conservation courtesy of Mrs. Omer L. Hirst

Object numberW-2810

DescriptionRectangular gold box with polished agate lid mounted in gold. Lid is hinged along one side and has a small crenulated lip or finger hold on the other. Chased and embossed or repoussé designs on the box's four sides feature asymmetric C-scrolls, shells, and flowers on a stippled ground. Three sides have undulating top edges. The box's underside is engraved with the Custis coat of arms inside a lozenge framed by foliate designs of asymmetric C-scrolls, shells and flowers. Clouded agate has indistinct bands ranging in color from cream to warm brown.

Accompanied by note (in object file) on torn and folded wove paper inscribed in script (in ink): "Gold snuff box/ given to me/ by my beloved/ Grandmother/ EPC_".

Published ReferencesJoseph McMillan, "Changes of Arms in Colonial North America: The Strange Case of Custis," in The Coat of Arms 3rd seri. 11 (2015), no. 230, plate 5, 125.

Carol Borchert Cadou, The George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 248, cat. 85.

Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. Committee on Art and Exhibition, Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Portraits, Relics, and Silverware Exhibited at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, April 17th to May 8th, 1889 (New York: Trow's Printing and Bookbinding Company, 1889), #454, 101.

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