Box

This box is double sided with jasper panels set into both the top and the base. The circular Wedgwood panels are made of lilac and blue jasper with white jasper applied decoration. The gold metal box is impressed with the maker's mark of Jean Henri Clément of Paris. It may have been used to hold snuff, which is dried, powdered, tobacco. Snuff taking was very popular in the eigteenth century. Small amounts of snuff were caried on the person in ornate, tightly sealed boxes. The boxes were made from precious materials, very often gold, which did not tarnish. The gold would neither affect the snuff powder or be affected by it.