Snuff-box and cover of soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels, Mennecy porcelain factory, Mennecy, about 1760.

Snuff-box and cover of soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels and with a hinged silver mount. Situated to the south of Paris, Mennecy was no more than a village when in 1749 François Barbin and his wife bought a piece of land there in order to establish a porcelain factory.

The new establishment still operated under the protection of the duc de Villeroy and many of the factory's products bear the impressed or painted mark 'DV' for Duché de Villeroy. The porcelain made at Mennecy is soft-paste and lacks the bright white body of true porcelains made in Asia and at Meissen. The colouring is subtle and characterised by a good range of pink tones and other colours which were used to great effect in the flower painting found on many Mennecy wares.

As well as table wares and figures, trinkets such as snuff and patch boxes were made in large numbers by the factory. These were made in many different forms, including baskets of flowers, individual flowers and fruits, figures, animals, miniature furniture and even Sedan chairs.