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Snuff Box
Snuff Box
On View
On view

Snuff Box

Date1780-1790
Terms
  • Snuffboxes
  • Tortoise Shell
  • Walnut
  • France
Dimensions7.61 cm (3 in.)
Credit LineSnuff Box, designed after David-Nicolas Chodowiecki, France, 1780-1790. Concord Museum Collection, Gift of Mr. Stephen Lincoln Smith; Per2338.
Object numberPER2338
DescriptionSnuff box. Design after David-Nicolas Chodowiecki (1726-1801). Tortoise shell and round-carved burl.

A plaque on the interior of the box records that it was "Presented by General Washington to General Benjamin Lincoln, 1783". It is pressed with an image of Frederick the Great of Prussia, who was to Washington an exemplary model of the soldier-statesman.

Lid with relief carving of Frederic II "Roi de Prusse" shown on horseback wearing a "tricorn hat with a battleground behind". Interior tortoise shell and interior of lid a plaque inscribed "Presented by Gen'l Washington to Gen'l Benjn. Lincoln". The box was made by steaming and pressing with an engraved die a piece of the inner bark (ecorche) of a walnut tree.

General Lincoln was said to have kept the large snuff box (2006.239) on his mantle at his home in Hingham, Mass. and from it filled the smaller box (Per2338) with the powdered tobacco.
Snuff Box
Object number: 2006.239
1770 - 1790
Object number: C788.1
ca. 1790
Object number: C788.2
ca. 1783
Object number: C788.3a
ca. 1783
Object number: C788.4
ca. 1783
Object number: PER0752
Early 1800s
Object number: C788.23
ca. 1783
Object number: C788.10
ca. 1783