QIANLONG PERIOD, CIRCA 1760

Three scenes from the Old Testament story of Joseph are depicted on this box: the underside shows Joseph's brothers taking him out of the pit in which they had put him, in order to sell him to the Ishmaelites who then took him to Egypt, where they sold him to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh; the interior of the cover shows Joseph fleeing from the advances of Potiphar's wife, who retains his cloak; and the cover shows the Pharoah gratefully receiving Joseph, by now a successful interpreter of dreams, who had forewarned of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, which is depicted in the background as a field full of ripe corn beside another with only a few tufts.

Only three almost identical snuff boxes appear to be recorded in addition to the present example: a porcelain snuff box is illustrated by Hervouët and Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, Paris, 1986, p.362; another, also in porcelain, was exhibited in School's Out, Cohen & Cohen, November 2001, no. 17; and a painted enamel snuff box was exhibited in After You!, Cohen & Cohen, November 2002, no. 31.