Figure of the Day: The Turtle Tobacco Box, 1880

Tobacco Box/Fairing
German, 1880
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Tobacco and snuffboxes were the perfect excuse for goldsmiths, modelers and jewelers to work together to create strange and interesting compositions.  These boxes often took on fanciful, and sometimes humorous, forms.

Here, from  Pössneck, Germany, and dating to 1880, we have a tobacco box and lid in the form of a naked child riding on the back of a turtle.  Naturally...

The little boy isn't entirely naked, I should note.  He's wearing a colorful crown of feathers and a matching "modesty skirt" as Springfield resident Martin Prince would call it.  Bonus points to you if you get that reference.  

And, in a move that would please our Mr. Punch, he's carrying a cudgel.  I trust he's not going to whack the turtle on his lumpy noggin.

These boxes were marketed to wealthy men, presumably those with a sense of humor.  As odd as this is, it’s also kind of attractive.  I like it, though I can’t imagine that riding naked on a turtle (even with a modesty skirt) would be the most comfortable experience.  I don’t think I’ll try it.  Besides, all of our turtles around here are very small and un-ride-able.  Just ask Bertie.

It was made by a firm called Conta and Boehme.  The firm is best known mostly for making Victorian fairings (little porcelain prizes which one could win at a fair) which also usually took on a humorous form.