Early 19th Century French Carved Boxwood Snuff Box, “La Ste Famille”

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A finely carved circular snuff box in boxwood, French, circa 1820, the lid delicately rendered in relief with a devotional … Read more A finely carved circular snuff box in boxwood, French, circa 1820, the lid delicately rendered in relief with a devotional scene inscribed “LA STE FAMILLE” (The Holy Family). The carving depicts the Virgin seated with the Christ Child on her lap, an infant St. John offering a cross, while St. Joseph appears above in a protective gesture beneath a sheaf of wheat and a flowering tree. A rustic background with classical architecture and pastoral elements enhances the composition’s domestic piety, emblematic of early 19th-century sentimental devotional art.

The reverse is intricately engine-turned in a radiating guilloche pattern centered by a circular rosette, executed with precision to create a subtle optical shimmer. The interior retains its original paper and fabric lining in soft rose tones, now gently faded with age. The turned boxwood displays a rich, honey-brown patina, accentuating the high-relief modeling and the finely incised details of the figures and landscape.

Boxes of this type were produced in Dieppe and Paris during the Bourbon Restoration, when small sculptural snuff boxes served as both personal accessories and commemorative objects. The religious subject, treated with grace and intimacy, reflects the revival of domestic faith and family virtue in post-Napoleonic France.

Measurements: 3.25 in diameter. See less