Mid 20th C Hungarian Cigarette Box by Margit Tevan

Part cigarette box, part tiny bronze relief sculpture. Exactly the kind of object that makes you pick it up before you’ve worked out what it actually is.
 
The lid is centred with a cast panel of stylised figures and plant forms, somewhere between folk art, early modernist metalwork, and a miniature architectural frieze. The surrounding surface has aged into a soft uneven patina with traces of brass and darker oxidised tones coming through underneath. Inside, the cedar-lined compartments are unexpectedly refined — a very practical interior hidden inside something that feels almost ceremonial from the outside.
 
Stamped Hungary with the Tevan monogram to the underside, and closely aligned with documented examples of Margit Tevan’s small-scale mixed-metal boxes and decorative objects from the period.
 
One of those pieces that sits comfortably between decorative arts object and small sculpture. You can absolutely imagine it in a cigarette-filled Budapest café at some point, but equally it now just works as a beautifully strange little box on a shelf.
 
Condition: Good - age related patination
Size: W 13cm x D 15cm x H 3cm