In terms of proportion, size and general style of decoration this snuffbox reflects the influence of boxes made in Hanau in the 1750s and early 1760s, such as one by Les Frères Toussaint in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Of similar size, 3.8 x 7.7 x 6 cm, this is chased in coloured golds with vignettes of bucolic figures within frames of rocaille scrolls. On the Colins box, however, the scrollwork frame on the lid is in higher relief and, more significantly, the rustic subjects on the sides and base have been replaced with floral clusters, similar to those used by Colins for the decoration of boxes of more contemporary style. This selective referencing of eighteenthcentury sources is an example of the period’s interpretive rather than imitative approach to the past.

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