French Palais Royale Gold Mounted Carved Mother of Pearl Shell Pocket Snuff Box (1800 to 1900 France)

MOP and Gold

This unusual and finely carved small snuffbox was made for a waistcoat pocket and perhaps for the use of a merchant ships captain or high-ranking naval officer. It was believed by sailors that high winds and gales at sea would subside if a naked woman appeared before them, and it is for this reason that so many of the figureheads of ships were carved with a woman with a bare breast.

A Fine French Palais Royale Gold Mounted Carved Mother of Pearl Shell Pocket Snuff Box Shaped as a small boat, a mermaid with a spiralling fish’s tail and long tresses carved as a figurehead to the bow, the lid carved with a scene of Faith holding an anchor surrounded by two cherubs, the gold hinge with engraved foliate designs.
Circa 1800-1820

Size: 1.6cm high, 7cm long, 3cm wide - ½ ins high, 2¾ ins long, 1¼ ins wide