Moroccan snuffbox

Guza or Snuff Box, Jewish art (Essaouira province, Morocco)

Until the first half of the 20th century, almost 5% of the Moroccan population practiced Judaism (after the mass emigration of the 1970s, this percentage was reduced to just under 0.01). Some were then dedicated to agriculture and livestock, but most of the Jewish communities were concentrated in the most important cities of the country, dedicating their time to commerce, crafts and industry.
In those years, many goldsmiths, jewelers and embroiderers' workshops were located in the Jewish neighborhoods of Marrakech, Fez or Meknes, where some of the best jewelry and brocades in the country were produced, which were then shown at parties and palace events. On the contrary, other objects manufactured in Hebrew workshops were intended to solve the most mundane needs of the middle classes.
The snuff box or Guza that we propose at Black Market is, precisely, one of those everyday pieces created at the end of the 19th century in the Mellah of Mogador (currently Essaouira) by a silversmith from the Edrí family. It is a hollow cylinder of enamelled wood, topped at both ends by cones of chiseled Berber silver with vegetal motifs, which was intended to contain powdered tobacco.

Length: 17cm; Ø: 55 mm. Weight: 40g