Decorative boxes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the BBC3 comedy, see snuff box.

Though the purpose of a box may be purely functional, boxes can also be very decorative and artistic.

Many decorative boxes are used as wedding favors and for promotional packaging. [Bayley's Boxes, Inc.] is one manufacturer of these decorative gift boxes.

[edit] Work box

The most common type of decorative box is the feminine work box. It is usually fitted with a tray divided into many small compartments for needles, reels of silk and cotton, and other necessaries for stitchery. The date of its origin is unclear, but 17th-century examples exist, covered with silk and adorned with beads and embroidery.

No lady would have been without her work box in the 18th century. In the second half of that century, elaborate pains were taken to make these boxes dainty and elegant.

Work boxes are ordinarily portable, but at times they form the top of a stationary table.

[edit] Snuff box

One of the more functional types of decorative boxes is the snuff box, which is now largely a charming relic of the once popular practice of taking snuff. At one time, this tiny decorative but utilitarian box was an indispensable accessory for every man of birth and breeding from the 18th century through the middle of the 19th century.

Artisans, such as the jeweller and the enameller bestowed infinite pains upon this object, which was as much a delicate bijou as a piece of utility. Gentlemen of Quality, fops, and dandies possessed a great variety of snuff-boxes, some of which were quite rich in detail, with frames of gold encased with diamonds. Other boxes were more ordinary. Made with(potato-pulp), the cheapest wood available, they were extensively used.

Other popular materials used in making these boxes include:

• Tortoise-shell, a favorite material owing to its satin lustre;
• Mother-of-pearl, which was kept in its natural irridescent state, or gilded, or used together with silver; and
• Gold boxes, enriched with enamels or set with diamonds or other precious stones.

The lids were often adorned with a portrait, a classical vignette, or a portrait miniature, or by an old master.

Even after snuff-taking ceased to be popular in general, the practice lingered among diplomats. Monarchs retained the habit of bestowing snuff-boxes upon ambassadors and other intermediaries as a form of honor. As Talleyrand explained, the diplomatic corp found a ceremonious pinch to be a useful aid to reflection in a business interview.

We may trace much of modern lavishness in the distribution of decorations to the cessation of snuff-taking. Having a monarch invite one to take a pinch from a his snuff-box was a mark of distinction that was almost equivalent to having one's ear pulled by Napoleon. At the coronation of George IV of England, Messrs. Rundell and Bridge, the court jewellers, were paid £ 8205 for snuff-boxes for foreign ministers.

Today the snuffbox is collected by wealthy amateurs or museums. Some excellent examples command large sums. George, duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), possessed an important collection—After his death a Louis XV gold box was sold at auction for £ 2000.