Decorative box

Decorative box

18th century German gold and mother of pearl snuffbox
Type	Packaging

A decorative box is a form of packaging that is generally more than just functional, but also intended to be decorative and artistic. Many such boxes are used for promotional packaging, both commercially and privately. Historical objects are usually called caskets if larger than a few inches in more than one dimension, with only smaller ones called boxes.

Traditionally gift boxes used for promotional and seasonal gifts are made from sturdy paperboard or corrugated fiberboard. These boxes normally consist of a base and detachable lid and are made by using a die cutting process to cut the board. The box is then covered with decorative paper. Gift boxes can be dressed with other gift packaging material, such as decorative ribbons and gift tissue paper.

The most common type of decorative box is the feminine work box. It is usually fitted with a tray divided into many small compartments for needles, reels of silk and cotton, and other necessaries for stitchery. The date of its origin is unclear, but 17th-century examples exist, covered with silk and adorned with beads and embroidery.

No lady would have been without her work box in the 18th century. In the second half of that century, elaborate pains were taken to make these boxes dainty and elegant.

Work boxes are ordinarily portable, but at times they form the top of a stationary table.

A jewelry box, also known as a casket, is a receptacle for trinkets, not only jewels. It may take a very modest form, covered in leather and lined with satin, or it may reach the monumental proportions of the jewel cabinets which were made for Marie Antoinette, one of which is at Windsor Castle, and another at the Palace of Versailles; the work of Schwerdfeger as cabinetmaker, Degault as miniature-painter, and Thomire as chaser.