The well-defined geometric borders, referencing classical architectural motifs, reflect the impact in Hanau of the goût grec that emerged in Paris in the early 1760s. It is interesting to note how the chaser chose to soften the architectural rigour of the border by allowing elements of the vignettes – grassy sods and plant-covered ruins – to spill over. Both the subject matter of these vignettes – bucolic figures amid classical architectural ruins – and the way they are composed recall the work of Pierre Adelbert Griot in Berlin. Differences, however, can be detected in the detail: for example, while Griot’s clearly defined Corinthian columns are chased in two-colour gold, Les Frères Toussaint’s columns are of a single colour and less fastidiously delineated. Lorenz Seelig has drawn attention to the fact that by 1762 the brothers ‘had several German and foreign craftsmen working for them, including Jean Jacques Bury (1728–1785) of Strasbourg, the outstanding chaser who had set up business in Hanau in 1758’. It is interesting to speculate whether or not Bury was responsible for the chasing of this snuffbox.

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