Snuff box — Snuff box featuring the image' Life of an Actor. Empty Boxes', Birmingham, ca.1840
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
ca.1840
Snuff box in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (museum number S.607:1&2-1997), made in Birmingham, dated ca.1840, attributed to Clay, Henry. The museum's brief description reads: Snuff box featuring a transfer-printed, varnished image by Theodore Lane (c.1800-1828) showing empty pit benches, from the book The Life of An Actor written by Pierce Egan (1772-1849) and illustrated by Theodore Lane (c.1800-1828).
Probably intended as a table-top snuff box. Papier maché, probably…. Museum description: Snuff box and lid. The body of the box is painted black and the lid features a varnished, transfer-printed image of an engraving of a theatre interior entitled: 'Life of an Actor. Empty benches'. The museum records it as Wood and papier maché, measuring Height 1.8 cm; Diameter 8.9 cm. These details come from the museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
The lid of this box is decorated with a transfer-printed engraving by the watercolour painter Theodore Lane (c.1800-1828) from Pierce Egan's book The Life of an Actor printed in 1825. By this date Pierce Egan (1772-1849) was well-known as the author of Life in London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom illustrated by George and Robert Cruikshank. Egan invented The Life of an Actor around a series of thirty-six subjects designed and etched by Lane illustrating an actor's life. This shows a performance to an almost empty house - one of the difficulties that beset the actor in his book before he found fame and fortune. The mass market for theatrical memorabilia such as this box 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 smooth with pumice stone. The earliest boxes were hand painted but after about 1815 hand-painted boxes were supplanted by those decorated with coloured prints, pasted on and varnished. A wide variety of subjects were used, from prints of buildings such as the Crystal Palace, to images of landscapes and animals. Boxes like these have generally been described as…
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Wood, Papier maché
- Dimensions
- Height 1.8 cm; Diameter 8.9 cm
Technical characteristics
- Technique
- Wood and papier maché
- Maker recorded
- Clay, Henry
- Place recorded
- Birmingham
Design
- Inscriptions recorded
- 'Life of an Actor. Empty benches'
Identification
- Museum object name
- Snuff box
- Museum object number
- S.607:1&2-1997
- Museum system number
- O122621
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm the wider type, maker and catalogue references against a specialist reference.