What is a snuffbox and what was it used for?

Very many things that used to be familiar and familiar to everyone are now out of use. Some words denoting them are forgotten, others remain in art and works of art, often causing confusion among people. For example, after reading the tale of V. Odoyevsky, all children ask a question about what a snuffbox is? Now this thing can be found except in a museum or private collections. And yet, a century and a half ago, snuffboxes were commonplace among people of different classes. They were simple and expensive and were in great demand.

What is a snuffbox for?

In the 16th century, a fashion appeared in Europe for snuffing tobacco. Not everyone could endure the smoke from smoking, and since it was brought from America in large quantities at that time, they found another use for it. Fashion for sniffing tobacco, most likely, Katerina Medici. It is believed that she was sent an exotic plant for the treatment of migraine. From France, the habit has spread throughout Europe. And soon and in Russia it became known what a snuffbox is. Because snuff had to be stored somewhere. And there were little boxes with a lid, considered then a sign of nobility. They were made of expensive materials and decorated with carvings and precious stones. By the 18th century, the fashion for wearing snuffboxes had spread throughout Europe. People treated each other with snuff, it was necessarily according to the rules of etiquette. Snuffboxes began to make different. Soon they, besides storing tobacco, began to perform other functions. Everyone knew what a snuffbox was. After all, at that time, this thing became famous and necessary.

What were the snuffboxes

1. They differed in the material from which they were made. For their manufacture, gold, silver, tortoise shell, porcelain, birch bark and other substances were used.

2. Everyone tried to have the most beautiful snuffbox. Therefore, special manufactories adorned them with carvings, precious stones, chased ornaments and miniatures. In Russia, snuffboxes adorned with city views were famous.

3. They had these boxes and different shapes: in the form of shells, fruits, animals, baskets, envelopes or vials. Sometimes when looking at such things, it is impossible to answer the question what is a snuffbox. The photo of these boxes characterizes them as elegant works of art.

What was the snuff-box used for?

The author of a fairy tale about the journey of a boy to a music box introduced modern readers to the functions that these boxes performed. After the snuffboxes became widespread, they were used for other purposes, not just for tobacco storage. They wrote letters, small gifts. For this, snuffboxes were made in the form of a postal packet. And for fans of a different sort of tobacco, caskets with several compartments appeared. There were even some who had lids on both sides, for example, to treat acquaintances with less expensive tobacco. And at the beginning of the XIX century, musical snuffboxes - caskets, in which music played after opening the lid - spread. Often snuffboxes gave each other, it was a sign of courtesy and good tone.

Odoyevsky's story "Gorodok in snuff-box"

This work won great popularity in its time and was highly appreciated by critics. Even now the fairy tale is read with interest and enters the school curriculum. Thanks to her, modern children know what a snuffbox is. And at that time the work acquainted the young readers not so much with the subject itself as with the mechanics, because the snuffbox was musical. Therefore, the author does not focus on the main functions of this subject. It is important for him to introduce children to the arrangement of this mechanism. Therefore, the story "The City in a snuffbox" has remained so popular for more than a hundred years.