Multi-Compartment Lacquered Indian Accessory Box

Beautifully colored decoupage box with 17th century design motif. France, Circa 19th century.

A Chinese four-legged barrel-form brass urn cast and engraved with archaistic decoration from the 20th century. The gently rounded sides are cast with the dispersed elements of two taotie masks, Archaistic auspicious beasts formed by a pair of stylized and confronted dragons which constitutes the features of this mythical creature, abstractly rendered in low-relief hooked curls. Two bands of kui or passing dragons flank the taotie ornamentation on the belly, all upon an engraved and very finely delineated white leiwen ground symbolizing thunder. Raised on four atlantes with a few anatomical engraved details, the urn possesses a flat circular lid decorated with stylized birds and topped with a phoenix-shaped knob with a ring, a propitious symbol in Chinese art. The white engraved ground nicely contrasting with the dark patina along with the Archaistic traditional low relief decoration echoes Chinese archaic ritual bronzes used in ceremonies or buried in the tombs of the elites for use in the afterlife. This Chinese barrel...

1920s Anglo-Raj Hand-Painted Rajasthani Dowry Box A striking early 20th-century Anglo-Raj decorative wooden box, hand-painted and richly detailed with romantic and courtly scenes. Or...

The rectangular Indian pen box with domed hinged lid is hand-painted with colorful figural Maharajah court scenes on top and floral designs on each side. Hand painted Rajasthani decorative writing...