Anglo Indian Brass Box with Bone Inlay

Very decorative hand painted in the Anglo-Indian style. Painted back and gold with each framed panel filled with female dancers and male flower bearing suiters. A colorful and fun, a...

A stunning camel bone, ebony and metal inlaid sadeli work box with portable writing desk, Bombay, circa 1850. The sandalwood body of faceted rec...

English Regency mahogany box with satinwood inlay. The four corners of the top are inlaid with lovely triangular scalloped decoration. All the border molding are also satinwood inlay...

Wonderful 19th century American box with intricate and beautiful geometric inlay. This was created by a true craftsman. Interior painted with removable sectioned tray. 15.75 inches ...

A beautifully made hand carved rosewood and fruit wood box with heart shaped bone escutcheon.The whimsical interior lined with paper carpet pattern from...

Whaler made antique bone and ebonized wood round box, circa 1850. With pierced bone medallion and delicately carved bone spiral decorative supports on the...

19th century Anglo-Indian hardwood casket with bone inlay. India.

Impressive Anglo Indian box crafted in mahogany and clad in tortoise shell decorated with bone straps, carved and painted floral panels, and paw feet. The inside has a mirror and bon...

Fabulous Anglo-Indian decorative box inlaid. Made in Vizagapatam, situated on the south east coast of India, near Madras. Great decorative inlaid pen box or jewelry box. Inside dimen...

Impressive antique Anglo Indian box crafted in mahogany, clad in tortoise shell, and ambitiously decorated with bone. The inside has a mirror and red felt lining.

Exquisitely crafted early 20th century Anglo Indian micro mosaic Sadeli box with gorgeous antique Persian geometric pattern. The finely detailed box featu...

Nice and unusual Indian Mughal style large decorative box, filigree and carved horn. Anglo-Indian footed domed box with exceptional engraved details throughout with filigree and carved veneered bone plaques with arabesque carving. Vizagapatam, late 19th century. History of the Anglo-Indian Boxes Beginning in the early part of the 18th century, Indian artisans made what came to be known as Anglo-Indian boxes for the English residents living in India, who eventually brought or sent them back to England. At the beginning of the 19th century, India began exporting these boxes commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the 1850s. People valued them so highly that manufacturers of tins copied the designs on them in the late 19th and early 20th century. Anglo-Indian boxes fall into four groups: Rosewood or ebony boxes inlaid; sandalwood boxes veneered; sandalwood boxes covered with Sadeli mosaic; and carved boxes often combined with Sadeli mosaic/ The first two categories came from Vizagapatam in East India while the last two came from Bombay in West India. English traders discovered the rich woods and intricate workmanship of Indian artisans, so colonial government officials began to recognize the work of the Indian artists and craftsmen as a source for satisfying the need for furniture and boxes, which would both serve to enhance English households in India. This gave rise to the cabinetmaking workshops in Vizagapatam between Calcutta and Madras. Craftsmen made the first boxes to be decorated with Sadeli mosaic of rosewood or ebony, incised to give further definition to the decoration, directly inlaid into the wood. The shape of the early boxes was either sloping at the front with a flatter section at the back, reminiscent of English writing slopes, or rectangular. Artisans inlaid the borders with stylized floral scrolls and the centers with a single floral motif following a circular or oval symmetrical or asymmetrical pattern. The edging was ornamental and protective, both helped protect the end grain against the weather. Made in Vizagapatam, situated on the south east coast of India, near Madras These exotic boxes...