Snuffbox in the Form of an Envelope

Description Designed to look like an envelope, this snuffbox was presented to a lady-in-waiting at the royal court. It is “addressed” on one side “To her Excellency my lady Praskovia Grigor’evna Butakova, . . . St. Petersburg.” The other side of the box is “sealed” with a red wax stamp. The seal on the box belongs to a member of the powerful Stroganov family. At court, snuffboxes such as this were intended as flirtatious mementoes. This example was made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory, founded in St. Petersburg in 1744.

Conservation

The snuff box in the shape of an envelope is intact with only minor wear from use. A simulated seal and crest in red overglaze are present on the underside of the box. The mark of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, the double eagle, is stamped on the interior of the porcelain box. The gold mounts are unmarked.

Date	Description	Narrative
8/20/2015	Treatment	Cleaned for exhibition

Exhibitions

• Objects of Vertu: Precious Works of the Eighteenth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire's Legacy . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2017-2018.

Provenance Alexandre Polovtsoff (Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Polovtsov), Saint Petersburg and Paris, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Transcription] Ее Превосходительству гос(у)д(а)р(ы)нѣ моей Прасковье Гри- горьевнѣ Туталовой Двора его Императорска- го Величества фреилинѣ в Санктъ Петербурге; [Translation] To her Excellency my lady Parascheve Grigor’evna Tutalova, lady-in-waiting at the court of His Imperial Majesty in Saint Petersburg

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters