Burmese Decorative Boxes

Beautiful handcrafted antique tinned copper decorative octagonal betel box with with lid, handle and brass latch. The metal is delicately and int...

Beautiful antique porcelain jewelry box. Signed " France Limoges" at the bottom. Limoges is a city in France that is known as the capital of ...

A truly fabulous late nineteenth century jewelry box made from a fine example of malachite, the first image is the most true colour in person. The Malachite during this era was ag...

A antique Victorian era English campaign style brass bound mahogany portable lap desk / writing slope with nicely aged patina. circa 1850 Commonly used by military officers in the f...

A Japanese red burgundy, gold and black lacquer box with round corners and silk cloth interior lining, circa early-20th century, 1920s, Japan. Box was desi...

A gorgeous glass trinket box with some ormolu adornments. The hinged top featuring a City view of the Nuremberg Castle. No restoration has been carried out on this charming little tr...

Betel Box, Kun It Burma Late 19th/early 20th century Bamboo, lacquer H: 7.5 in x D: 8.5 in :: 19 cm x 21.5 cm Intricately painted motifs (including chili seed pattern, Nga Y...

A rare and exceptional finely painted vintage Imperial Russian lacquerware box. Exquisitely hand-crafted in the Palekhsky District (Палех) of wes...

Antique handmade Italian jewelry box in wood lined with silk velvet. It has beautiful scalloped sides which are smooth as silk to the touch. The box has a hinged lid which also is po...

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...

Found in Italy at an estate sale, this hand carved trinket box or catchall is perfect for the collector. Nice antique collectible to display in your...

Antique Coromandel and Brass Bound Campaign Humidor. The cigars depicted are for illustrative purposes only.