Antique Hand-Carved Chestnut Box in Asian Bamboo Style Inlaid with Soapstone

Entirely carved antique box for playing cards with inlaid, enameled miniature cards on top, ca 1880. If you are a collector of rare and stylish hand carved Black Forest antiques in ...

Great craftsmanship and pure elegance from the early 1900s. This wonderful and practical size, antique Arts & Crafts box is perfectly decorated on all sides with stylized flowers. ...

Rare, colorful and highly decorative Chinese box. If you like the look and feel of Chinese antiques and ancient Asian symbolism then this handcrafted and hand carved box from the turn of the century could be perfect for you. Its unusual size (smaller than a cabinet, but larger than your average antique box) may have something to do with the content we purchased it with. In a number of the small compartments we found Chinese porcelain tea cups...

One of a kind and excellent condition antique box. The rare shape of this mid-1800s box is just as aesthetically pleasing as its marvelous color. Coromande...

Top quality and excellent condition antique box for the collectors of rare and beautiful. Over the years we have had the pleasure of owning and selling some truly beautiful antique ...

Excellent workmanship and very cool looking antique box. This 19th century and all handcrafted box is perfect for decorating the interior of your lodge, but also in a home environme...

Hand Carved Stone Box with Asian Motif - the perfect little box for 420, paperclips, rubber bands... or next to the bed, guest room or side table...

Chinese Ebonized Jewelry Box with Carved Soapstone Inlaid Figures 20thC Measures - 10.5"H x 15.75"W x 9"D

1880s Asian carved wood box with drawers.

1980s green carved soapstone decorative box. Carved elephant motif across the lid of the box. No makers mark or signature.

A scarce fine quality antique silver-inlaid solid brass betel nut box (Lutuan), dating to the second half of the 19th / early 20th century, hand-crafted in Mindanao, Philippines. Boxes such as this were used to store the areca nut (also known as the betel nut) which would be wrapped in a betel leaf with lime paste and other ingredients, often tobacco, for chewing. Similar to the European tea caddy, these boxes often served as a way to impress while showing off ones wealth. Betel chewing was prevalent in the southern Philippines as in much of the rest of Southeast Asia. Wealthier Maranao families on Mindanao were able to afford elaborate silver-inlaid brass betel boxes such as this example. Such boxes were used to show off to guests and from which they were offered betel and the other component such as leaves and lime to make up the betel quid. Rare large size, most extant examples of such boxes tend to measure around 5 inches in length. At slightly more than 7.75 inches the example here is larger than most. The distinctive decorative box features a very heavy strong-box like rectangular shaped chest form with canted corners, copper handles, and a conforming hinged lid, lifting open to reveal an interior divided into three compartments covered by four hinged lids. Each of these doors is inlaid with silver in stylized orchid flower patterns. Exceptionally executed throughout, the arabesque silver inlaid exterior is decorated to the top with a large orchid motif within scrolling obid-obid (stylized rope) borders. The front, back and sides are inlaid with sets of stylized tail feathers of the sari-manok bird beneath which are unusual, highly stylized whimsical zoomorphic faces that appear like cat or tiger faces. (Such stylisation is accounted for by Southeast Asian Islamic preferences to avoid the overt and this potentially idolatrous representation of animal and human forms. Designs such as these are drawn from a local design repertoire that has its origins in wood carving. Although the spread of Islam in the Philippines began in the 14th century, mostly through the influence of Muslim merchants from the western Malay Archipelago, decorative arts in this design remain exceptionally rare. This lutuan represents a fine example of Islamic metalwork from the most eastern outreach of Islamic art and civilisation: Mindanao island being significantly further east than even China – artwork from Islamic Southeast Asia remains chronically under-represented in the world’s major collections of Islamic art. PROVENANCE / ACQUISITION Acquired from highly reputable auction house, Austin Auction Gallery, established 1983, Austin, Texas. References Brownrigg, H., Betel Cutters...

1950s Vintage Asian Large Hand Carved Wooden Humidor Box. Hand-carved Kashmiri style Mid 20th century wood box richly decorated overall with s...