The lid of this gold snuff-box is decorated with chased ornament on a pounced background and set into it is a portrait of Empress Josephine produced in gouache and watercolour on ivory by Jean-Baptiste Augustin. The walls of the box are made of sheets of tortoiseshell with dark blue enamel bead ornament. The use of tortoiseshell and miniature insets is typical of the work of Montauban, a noted craftsman of the Napoleonic period. Josephine, originally Marie-Josиphe-Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, became Viscountess de Beauharnais by her first marriage (her husband, General Beauharnais, was executed in 1794) and Napoleon's wife on 8 March 1796. Josephine's taste in art (and also her inclination to luxury) had an undoubted influence on the development of the Empire style. Napoleon's marriage to Josephine was childless and on 16 December 1809 it was annulled at the Emperor's insistence with numerous breaches of the law. Josephine withdrew to Malmaison. Soon after the fall of Napoleon, she died there, on 29 May 1814, at the age of 51.