Tobacco box, silver, London, 1655-1656

This silver tobacco box was intended for personal use. Silver tobacco boxes of the mid-17th century were usually oval and plain in form, with a slip-on lid. This example bears the most common type of decoration, engraved heraldic ornament on the lid. It also has a cabled wire ornament at the rim and base.

Tobacco first came into general use in Western Europe around 1570, when it was highly prized for its medicinal and narcotic properties. By the 1630s, however, taking tobacco had become a highly popular social and pleasurable habit for all classes, despite its cost. Tobacco was either smoked in a pipe or chewed. New accessories such as boxes, pipe stoppers and pipe stands were developed for this exotic material. Wealthy consumers might own a silver or silver-gilt box, but boxes of base metals and wood were also used. The development of snuff and snuff taking (the inhaling of powdered tobacco through the nostrils), and the accessories for it, followed that of tobacco. Silver with engraving and applied cabled wire

Bequest - Croft Lyon