Snuff box, papier maché depicting John Liston, Birmingham, 1846

The lid of this box is illustrated with a transfer-printed engraving of the comedian John Liston (1776-1846) in some of his favourite roles, which included Paul Pry, Moll Flaggon, Domine Sampson, Lord Grizzle, Maw Worm, Lubin Log, Sam Swipes and Van Dunder.

John Liston was the leading comic actor of the first half of the nineteenth century whose career spanned from 1799 until 1837 and who made his name as the interfering busy-body character Paul Pry. Liston became very well known and greatly respected, and commanded the highest salary ever known for a stage comedian. The mass market for theatrical memorabilia developed in the eighteenth century and flourished in the nineteenth century, coinciding with the commercial production of papier maché for objects such as boxes and frames.

In 1772 a patent for the production of a durable papier maché was granted to Henry Clay of Birmingham who developed a process whereby layers of paper like blotting paper were pasted on to a wood or metal core, each layer being polished snooth with pumice stone. Liston was one of several actors and actresses whose image featured on boxes such as this, which have generally been described as snuff boxes, too large to be portable but intended for table-top use. Snuff box and lid.

The body of the box is painted black and the lid features a varnished, transfer-printed image of the actor John Liston standing behind a screen featuring several images of himself in various roles.