Mastery of Design: The Sèvres Egg Snuffbox, 1764-5

Snuffbox
French, c. 1764
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Egg-shaped boxes like the one pictured above were very fashionable in the Eighteenth Century, especially in England, where they were often constructed of precious materials and porcelain to be used as snuffboxes or part of toilet sets.

Sèvres porcelain boxes shaped as eggs, however, are quite rare.  While the shape was popular in England, the French preferred more conventional shapes.  The few egg-shaped boxes produced in France were made for export to England.  This box was exported from France between 1764 and 1789, as shown by the gold marks.  We believe that it was a special commission for an English customer of the Sèvres factory.

The gold-mounted soft-paste porcelain box is painted in enamel colors with red oeil de perdrix on a pale blue ground.  Flower garland borders and a rosette at the top and bottom adorn the box and te gold mounts are chased with a guilloche and Greek key pattern.