Musical Snuff Box: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This music box was likely made by Jules Cuendet, in Switzerland, around 1838-1842. It is a musical snuff box, with 2 tunes. This music box has a two-piece comb with 41 teeth. The music box is activated by a key wound spring. Carved on the top of the music box:

Clever miniature portable devices, musical snuff boxes such as this one were called carillons à musique. Highly desired objects of status and crafted primarily in Switzerland, they influenced the development and popularity of all music box production in the 19th century. This musical snuff box was likely a souvenir.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1838-1842
• Object Name: Music Box
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 1 1/2 in x 3 3/4 in x 2 1/2 in; 3.81 cm x 9.525 cm x 6.35 cm
• place made: Switzerland
• ID Number: MI.58.047
• catalog number: 58.047
• accession number: 211312
• catalog number: 58.47
• Credit Line: The Monsignor John M. Cooper Collection of African, American Indian, Oceanic and Philippine Ethnology presented by the Catholic University of America
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.