The collection includes many Swiss decorative boxes from the period 1785 to 1835. Geneva in the 18th century was successful at exporting jewellery and painted enamel, including gold snuff boxes, to the rest of Europe. Many boxes in the collection are decorated with miniature paintings, sometimes versions of well-known works. Subjects include Napoleon crossing the bridge at Arcole, the Judgement of Paris, Roman charity, the infant Christ, and Cupid disarmed by Euphrosyne. An inscription on one box indicates it was presented to the American artist George Catlin by Nicholas I of Russia in 1845. Another box is from the Royal House of Saxony and bears a double portrait of Prince Fernando (the future Fernando VII of Spain) and his wife Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily. One box by the artist Jean George Rémond shows a portrait of Louis XIV of France. Another box bears the mark of the firm of Jean-François Bautte and Jean-Gabriel Moynier. Snuff boxes with miniature portraits of the monarch were common diplomatic gifts in 18th century Europe; an example in the collection bears a portrait of Francis I of the Two Sicilies. Mahmud II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, also adopted this practice, and the collection includes a snuff box from Geneva with his portrait inside the lid.