Cleveland Museum of Art

Snuff Box (Tabatière)

Francois Guillaume Tiron

Date

1756–57

Medium

gold and enamel

Culture

France, 18th century (style of Louis XV)

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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. In the mid-1700s François-Guillaume Tiron worked alongside his brother, Jean-Marie Tiron, one of the most celebrated makers of gold boxes of the 18th century.

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