Snuff Box (Tabatière)

The miniature paintings that decorated snuff boxes were depicted in intricate detail requiring complex technical skill. This box’s miniatures are painted with enamel en plein, meaning the enamel has been applied directly to the metal of the box. A different enameling technique, basse-taille, is used to depict the doves and floral borders. Here, the gold has been chiseled away and filled with translucent enamel in order to produce a three-dimensional effect.