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Can anyone tell if the characters refer to an imperial reign era, or someone's initials?

It seems like a nice humidor style box - for cigarettes or cigars, back in the days when one's tobacconist made cigarettes to one's personal blend? It measures 9 inches across.

It is a four-character Chinese Cheng yu (idiom), from right to left, top to bottom:

延年益寿
yán nián yì shòu

which means
to extended the years of one's life.

Possibly intended as a birthday gift.

Hope this helps.

I never could have figured that out, or understood what the implication was. Thank you.

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