Pair of Covered Jars (Pots de tabac) (c. 1779–89): Art, History and Details

Pair of Covered Jars (Pots de tabac) (c. 1779–89) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Faubourg Saint-Denis (French).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Due to the discovery of the ingredient kaolin in Saint-Yrieix, France in 1768-69, European porcelain factories were able to replicate the prized hard-paste porcelain of China and Japan. In the years following, many porcelain factories opened in the area, including Faubourg Saint-Denis in 1772. These jars, sold alone or in sets, would have stored snuff, powdered tobacco meant to be inhaled, or loose tobacco for smoking.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Covered Jars (Pots de tabac)
• Date: c. 1779–89
• Creator attribution: Faubourg Saint-Denis (French)
• Culture: France
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Hard-paste porcelain with enamel and gilt decoration; metal mount
• Dimensions: Diameter: 9.6 cm (3 3/4 in.); Overall: 14 cm (5 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1964.517

A detail from the museum

Processes outlined in Simon Barbe’s 1693 Le Parfumeur Français (The French Perfumer) describe various ways to prepare snuff including the addition of scents, coloration of the powder, and several different grinding methods.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.