Images(6)

Snuff Box

Dateca. 1825

OriginEngland, South Staffordshire, Bilston or Wednesbury (possibly)

MediumCopper, enamel, pinchbeck

DimensionsOH: 1 in.; OW: 1 7/8 in.; OL: 2 1/2 in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2018-1

DescriptionOval enamel box. The base of oval shape with swelled foot, exterior of royal blue enamel, interior of white enamel. The cover painted with a 3/4 portrait of a gentleman (George Washington) wearing a wig, white ruffled shirt and blue coat; all on a white ground. The interior of the lid painted with a version of the Great Seal of the United States: an eagle with upturned spread wings holding a wavy banner within its beak, an olive branch and arrows between its respective claws, and bearing a shield on its chest, the eagle's head surrounded by three stars and beneath an arc of thirteen stars. The phrase "REPUBLICANS / ARE NOT Always UNGRATEFUL" painted in black letters encircles the eagle. The lid and the top edge of the base of the box are mounted with a copper alloy frame. A three-part bracketed piano hinge connects the two parts. To facilitate the opening of the box, the mount on the lid bears an approximately one-inch long scalloped or serpentine-shaped thumbpiece opposite the hinge.
Label TextThe history of mementos related to political campaigns and souvenirs of dignitary visits is a long one. Made in England specifically for the American market as it relates to Lafayette's 1824-25 visit to the United States, this enamel box decorated with a portrait of George Washington and the great seal is just such a relic.

The phrase on the interior of the lid, "Republicans are not always ungrateful," has its roots in Roman history. The motto "Republics are unjust" is derived from Livy's, Sallust's, and Plutarch’s histories of the Roman republic. That phrase then made it to America through Shakespeare who used the word "ungrateful" rather than "unjust" in his tragedy entitled Coriolanus. In both the ancient histories and in Shakespeare's play, Caius Marcius successfully defends the Roman republic against invasion. He was then given the honorary title Coriolanus. Coriolanus was subsequently charged with tyranny and the majority of his "ungrateful countrymen" (as Shakespeare calls them) voted for his banishment. The story was in the minds of early Federal Americans as it appeared in many newspapers as a reminder to the citizens of the fledgling young nation.

Regarding the enamel box, republicans - the citizens of the new republic America - are not always unjust or ungrateful because they welcomed back Lafayette with open arms to their republic and did not treat him (or Washington) like Coriolanus was treated.