CIRCA 1660'S

This intricately carved snuff box is similar to an example in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and another from the Longridge Collection sold Christie’s, 10 June 2010, lot 1030. Taking snuff became a fashionable habit among the courtiers and aristocracy during Charles II’s reign, a ritual imported from France. The owner, a member of the Thornicroft family, was proud to display his royal loyalty on the front and to the underside his own identity is revealed. In 1687 John Thornicroft, a Barrister at Gray’s Inn, Holborn, applied on behalf of himself and his elder brother, Edward Thornicroft of Thornicroft, Cheshire, A Captain of Horse for King Charles I, for their Arms and Crest to be lawfully displayed and to be used by their descendants.