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Description:
French late 17th century early 18th century carved bone clergy snuff tobacco hinged box. The top of the box carved with the biblical story The Judgement of Solomon graphically depicted. Some warping 2 x 3.75 x .5" overall Wear to highlights and carving Hinge works but pin protrudes 1/64" Overall good condition. Based upon the Biblical passage in 1 Kings 3:16-28, where two new mothers approach Solomon, bringing with them a single baby boy. Each mother presents the same story - she and the other woman live together. One night, soon after the birth of their respective children, the other woman woke to find that she had smothered her own baby in her sleep. In anguish and jealousy, she took her dead son and exchanged it with the other's child. The following morning, the woman discovered the dead baby, and soon realized that it was not her own son, but the other woman's. After some deliberation, King Solomon calls for a sword to be brought before him. He declares that there is only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy's true mother cries out, "Please, My Lord, give her the live child - do not kill him!" However, the liar, in her bitter jealousy, exclaims, "It shall be neither mine nor yours - divide it!" Solomon instantly gives the baby to the real mother, realizing that the true mother's instincts were to protect her child, while the liar revealed that her only motivation was jealousy. The French were direct importers of tobacco and tobacco products from almost as early a time as the English but France also became, and remains, the center of tobacco cultivation in Europe. The French have their cultural equivalent of Sir Walter Raleigh, the man credited with the first importation of tobacco into England. André Thévet, a cobbler from Angoulême in South West France, is said to have grown tobacco in his garden from seed supplied by sailors. Sailors, especially those from seafaring Brittany, were in fact the first importers and users of snuff as fire regulations on board ships banned smoking. In the 16th and 17th centuries snuff was in almost universal use in France from peasants through the clergy up to the nobility, who found taking snuff more elegant than smoking tobacco.
| Status: For Sale |
Reference#: 00178 |
| Condition:
Good |
Year:
late 17th century early 18th century
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| Country:
France |
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| Title:
17th 18th c French carved bone snuff tobacco box |
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| Materials:
bone |
Type:
biblical |
Dealer Policies: Old Paris Porcelain Policy Details
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