A Rare English Papier-Maché ‘Erotic’ Snuff Box
A Rare English Papier-Maché ‘Erotic’ Snuff Box
Painted with a very rare scene of a late 18th / early 19th century ‘rosy’ cheeked Sailor, on a Pacific Island, in an ‘aroused’ state, offering for exchange with a seated female Islander a green ‘silk’ or ‘velvet’ ribbon in exchange for his advances, while she raises her red silk skirt while accepting the ribbon, her hair adorned with feathers and jewels hanging around her neck.
His fellow shipmates in a small rowing boat nearby with their ship further out to sea
Attributed to Raven
England
Circa 1800
Size: 10cm dia., 2.4cm high – 4 ins dia., 1 ins high
Painted with a very rare scene of a late 18th / early 19th century ‘rosy’ cheeked Sailor, on a Pacific Island, in an ‘aroused’ state, offering for exchange with a seated female Islander a green ‘silk’ or ‘velvet’ ribbon in exchange for his advances, while she raises her red silk skirt while accepting the ribbon, her hair adorned with feathers and jewels hanging around her neck.
His fellow shipmates in a small rowing boat nearby with their ship further out to sea
Attributed to Raven
England
Circa 1800
Size: 10cm dia., 2.4cm high – 4 ins dia., 1 ins high
A Rare English Papier-Maché ‘Erotic’ Snuff Box
Painted with a very rare scene of a late 18th / early 19th century ‘rosy’ cheeked Sailor, on a Pacific Island, in an ‘aroused’ state, offering for exchange with a seated female Islander a green ‘silk’ or ‘velvet’ ribbon in exchange for his advances, while she raises her red silk skirt while accepting the ribbon, her hair adorned with feathers and jewels hanging around her neck.
His fellow shipmates in a small rowing boat nearby with their ship further out to sea
Attributed to Raven
England
Circa 1800
Size: 10cm dia., 2.4cm high – 4 ins dia., 1 ins high
Painted with a very rare scene of a late 18th / early 19th century ‘rosy’ cheeked Sailor, on a Pacific Island, in an ‘aroused’ state, offering for exchange with a seated female Islander a green ‘silk’ or ‘velvet’ ribbon in exchange for his advances, while she raises her red silk skirt while accepting the ribbon, her hair adorned with feathers and jewels hanging around her neck.
His fellow shipmates in a small rowing boat nearby with their ship further out to sea
Attributed to Raven
England
Circa 1800
Size: 10cm dia., 2.4cm high – 4 ins dia., 1 ins high
By the middle of the 19th century ‘snuffing’ would no longer be a fashionable habit, but in 1800’s there was no sign that in only a few decades snuff taking would have been replaced in polite society by the puffing of cigars and pipes and by the new fad of cigarette smoking. Amongst the aristocracy the habit flourished and King George III had snuff specially blended for him by the tobacconists Fribourg and Treyer which he bought by the pound. Thus the demand continued for beautiful boxes to contain the exotic powder. Lord Petersham, an avid collector of both snuff and boxes was said to have ‘used a different box on every day of the year’.
Although erotic scenes on snuff boxes, usually hidden inside, often in secret compartments, they tend to be of Europeans, both English and Continental. It is very rare, if not unique to find a snuff box displaying an erotic scene of a ‘native’ Pacific Islander and a European, English Sailor.
Although erotic scenes on snuff boxes, usually hidden inside, often in secret compartments, they tend to be of Europeans, both English and Continental. It is very rare, if not unique to find a snuff box displaying an erotic scene of a ‘native’ Pacific Islander and a European, English Sailor.
Ex Private Australian collection
Ex Private collection
Ex Private collection
A Rare English Papier-Maché ‘Erotic’ Snuff Box
