Snuff Box (Tabatière)

The pastoral scenes that decorate this box are typical of the style of François Boucher, a celebrated painter of the period whose works were popularly reproduced on decorative arts. Snuff boxes, used practically as containers for powdered tobacco, were often decorated with miniature reproductions of notable works. The miniature on the cover is inspired by Boucher’s The Galant Pastor (Le Pasteur Gallant) (1738) and that on the bottom by The Amusement of the Shepherd Girl (L’Amusement de la Bergère) (1700s).