The Limoges Box is type of small hinged porcelain trinket box produced by Limoges porcelain factories near the city of Limoges, France. They are made of hard paste porcelain and collected worldwide.
Limoges porcelain boxes were first created in the mid-18th century after Jacques Turgot, Finance Minister of King Louis XVI, gave a Royal edict to the city of Limoges, France the exclusive right to produce Royal Limoges porcelain for the Kingdom of France. The first Limoges trinket boxes were long narrow containers that were created for expensive needles. From here, other shapes of Limoges porcelain boxes evolved. The earliest were those that held thimbles and embroidery scissors and then round flat Limoges boxes were formed and used as powder boxes, and/or snuff boxes. Under Louis XIV these small boxes were used to hold a lock of lady's hair or small poem.