Jacobite and Hanoverian Snuff Boxes
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of 90 Jacobite and Hanoverian snuff boxes from Scotland and England, which date from 1714 to the 1750s. This collection comprises a range of snuff boxes that are decorated with motifs that may signal support for the Jacobite or Hanoverian cause. Since it was treason to support Jacobitism, the boxes associated with this cause have coded imagery, which would have been interpreted by fellow sympathisers. The boxes that refer to the Hanoverian monarchy, the ruling power, often carry more obvious symbols. Snuff boxes were both functional and decorative items, which were made to hold snuff and carried by men during the 18th and 19th centuries. They represented expensive taste – both snuff and snuff boxes were prohibitively costly, and beyond the means of poor rural and urban labourers. To emphasise the owner’s status, boxes often carried ornate decorative details in silver, ivory inlay and painted scenes.
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