Bonbonniere made of silver and crystal "Stroller"

Bonbonniere (French bonbonnière — "candy box", from French bonbon — candy) is a beautifully designed box for sweets.

Prototypes of bonbonnieres appeared in Ancient Rome. According to some sources using the testimonies of the Phazi family (447 BC) and Apicius (14-37 AD), on holidays in honor of marriages and births of heirs, in the house of Emperor Tiberius, as a sign of good omen, guests were treated to sweet almonds. Since sugar had not yet been discovered, it was coated with a composition of honey and flour.

The custom of putting bonbonniers on the table came to us from France. In the 16th century in Europe, not everyone could afford to buy chocolates. This delicacy was affordable only for the rich, because sugar imported from India was very expensive, and chocolate was considered a luxurious gift (only a few candies made of iced almonds were placed in bonbonniers). And especially important people invited to the event (monarchs, etc.) have a tradition of giving sweets in a box made of expensive materials (silver and crystal). At the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, it was customary to thank this kind of bonbonniere for good service. The tradition was continued in 1896, when at the wedding of Prince of Naples — the future King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele with Queen Elena of Montenegro, guests presented luxurious bonbonniers with sweet almonds as offerings to the spouses.

Our premium bonbonniere is also made of silver and crystal, in the form of a chaise driven by the adventurer Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov from the immortal work of N.V. Gogol.  The coachman Selifan, sitting on the box, carelessly drives the famous "Three-Bird" through his native expanses. The stroller represents Russia, which is rushing rapidly, as N.V. Gogol hopes, into a bright future.

"Oh, the three! Bird troika, who invented you? to know, you could only have been born among a lively people, in a land that does not like to joke, but spread evenly over half the world, and go count the versts until it strikes you in the eyes. And it does not seem to be a cunning road projectile, not seized with an iron screw, but hastily equipped and assembled you alive with an axe and a chisel by a Yaroslavl efficient peasant."

"Rus, where are you rushing to? Give me an answer. Does not give an answer. A bell is filled with a wonderful ringing; the air, torn to pieces, rattles and becomes a wind; everything on earth flies by, and, squinting, other peoples and states stand aside and give way to it."

N.V. Gogol
"Dead Souls"
1835