Painted Steel Box

An eighteenth century English steel pipe and tobacco box the lid painted at the time of making with a wintery flooded village scene in France, probably to mark the winter of 1783-84.

During that winter France suffered a period of intense cold and heavy snow, the cold being exacerbated by a volcanic eruption in Iceland at Lakagigar. The ensuing thawing of the snow and ice led to widespread flooding that caused considerable damage across all of Northern France and beyond. To the base is painted a cartouche with a scene of three putti with a French tricolour pennant and a caduceus at a barrel; the caduceus in this instance being a symbol of commerce rather than medicine. The barrel represents the wine producing regions where the rivers Iton, Garrone and Loire all broke their banks and flooded the vineyards. It is further recorded that the floods caused considerable damage to homes and farms, much infrastructure and coal mines, all resulting in a protracted period of economic hardship and food shortages leading to societal unrest across the country.

7.25 in x 3.25 in x 1.75 in