Bone Boxes

Art Deco shagreen covered cedar box with bone edges, the snug fitting lid attached at the back with a single long stop hinge to prevent the lid falling back when open. The leather co...

Hand made dimensional bone box with hand set black centers. Rectangular pieces form a dimensional facade, lined in wood. A great addition to any coffee table to store remote controls...

Decorative keepsake/jewelry box clad in natural and dyed bone tiles. Top is in a Moorish motif of inlaid Turquoise bone elements. Handcrafted.

Chest, box forming a cabinet, Orientalist art, 19th century, Napoleon III period. A 19th century Napoleon III period wood and bone marquetry cabinet box, Orientalist. H: 24cm, W: 31...

Swedish 19th century birchwood veneer jewelry box. The box has a heart of brass for keyhole and knob hardware of antler.

Anglo-Indian penwork decorated veneered sandalwood box in the Regency taste, the two-tier sloped lid with a fluted carved upper tier above a smooth lower tier with penwork border and...

A beautiful tea caddy. The tortorise shell color is perfection.

A flat top brown polished horn box by Maitland Smith having two wide bands of polished green stone tiles surrounded by a gold brass band. The interior is a warm mahogany wood.

Maitland Smith tessellated polished horn and penshell jewelry box with brass trim.

Anglo Indian rectangular porcupine quill, bone and parquetry box. The box with a hinged lid that opens to reveal embossed red velvet lining and a decorated wood panel...

Exquisite handcrafted Khatam wood box with micro mosaic marquetry design, an Ancient Persian technique of inlaying. Moorish style box features geometric inlays of wood and bone. Art...

Carte du visite (business card) case of tortoise shell, impressed in relief with a rose within a border of stars. England, second quarter 19th century.

PRESENTING A LOVELY 19C Anglo Indian Highly Carved Sadeli Mosaic Inlaid Sewing Box. Made in Bombay, India, circa 1880. The box is made of sandalwood with highly carved raised teak wood panels on all sides, depicting temple scenes, animals and foliage. The box is in a sarcophagus form. It is edged in bone (and we can tell it is bone and not ivory, from the color and evidence of capillaries, which are not found in ivory), and banded with Bombay Sadeli mosaic and ebony veneer. The lid opens to reveal a removable tray with various open compartments and lidded compartments. 5 lidded compartments, 1 unlidded compartment and 8 holders for thimbles, etc The tray lifts to reveal a blue velvet (original) lined section, for storing jewelry etc, with sections for collars etc. The inside of the lid has a removable mirror (the mirror is missing on this one but can easily be replaced). Behind the mirror is the original green velvet lining. It has its original brass carry handles on the sides and sits on 4 silvered button feet (of recent origin). Some repairs to the exterior and condition issues (priced accordingly), but still a LOVELY COLLECTIBLE box! These boxes were made by superb Indian craftsmen, specifically for sale to the ruling British elite. These types of boxes, carved padouk and sandalwood, (whilst beautiful and superbly crafted) were of a lesser quality, than the more profusely and intricately mosaic inlay, tortoiseshell and ivory boxes, made for the British ‘Upper Classes’ in the areas of Bombay and Vizagapatam. These type of boxes were much more affordable back in 1880 (and indeed today) and would probably have been bought by mid-level diplomats, civil servants or visitors. Sewing boxes (in general), were in EVERY Victorian home in Britain in the 19th century and like other boxes etc were ‘status symbols’ of your place in society! The more ornate the box, the more ‘Upper Class’ you were! SADELI MOSAIC: “Anglo Indian boxes were made in India for the English residents from the early part of the 18th century. They were brought back or sent back to England usually by the people who had commissioned them. From the beginning of the nineteenth century they were imported more commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the middle decades. They were very highly valued, especially the early ones, to the extent that the designs were copied on late 19th and early 20th century tins. The ancient art of Sadeli Mosaic is said to have been introduced from Shiraz in Persia via Sind to Bombay, a long time before the Anglo Indian boxes were made. It was a technique, which required a high degree of skill and patience. It was executed very lavishly, in that the frequent cuts wasted a great amount of the precious materials used. The workmanship was however more than commensurable to the value of the materials. Ivory, silver, pewter (or other metals), wood and Horn were cut into faceted rods which were bound together to form geometric patterns. When the glue has set, the rods were sliced in transverse sections. This gave the maker a number of angled circular pieces in the original pattern. Several variations of patterns could be achieved by combining the materials in different ways. The ivory was sometimes dyed green to give an extra color. The mosaic pieces in a combination of patterns, often separated by ivory, ebony, Horn or silver stringing were used to veneer sandalwood boxes. In the early boxes, which date from the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, there are large panels of mosaic covering tops and sides of boxes. It took incredible skill to cover such large areas without any shakes or wavering of the pattern. The corners and joins on these boxes are impeccably matched. The makers (reputed to be Persian) of Sadeli mosaic made in the first two decades of the 19th century displayed a total understanding of the qualities of the different materials they used. They combined substances, which can expand and contract according to atmospheric conditions with others, which are hard and unyielding. The result was a sharp definition of the lines and patterns, which made up the whole design. On the early boxes the designs look deceptively simple. The fact is, they emerged from a culture, which had mastered geometry and understood how to generate a pattern from a set number of points. The patterns are so harmoniously combined that their incredible complexity is not immediately apparent. The earliest Sadeli boxes...

A fine Regency period rectangular tea caddy, veneered in panels divided by fine metal stringing. Silver metal escutcheon and key. Complete with an initialled plaque on the lid and ro...

Featuring Alternating Panels From our Tea Caddy collection, we are delighted to offer this fine Regency Tortoiseshell and Mother of Pearl Serpentine Tea Caddy. The Tea Caddy of rect...

A fine quality and handsome George IV/Regency inlaid rosewood dressing box, with the original sterling silver and glass fitted contents, London, 1824. The box having a lift-up hinged lid, finely inlaid with brass and bone marquetry of floral garlands & swags, the front having twin locking doors with corresponding inlay. Both the top, base and door panels have 'Dutch Ripple' molding and at each corner a hand-turned 'Barley Twist' column, both to the front and rear. The interior of the box also having inlaid satinwood stringing and three fitted compartments each with an etched crystal container...

An 18th century mother of pearl and tortoiseshell inlaid ottoman scribes box. The box covered in geometric tiles and floral design.

Tessellated horn jewelry box by Maitland-Smith.

PRESENTING AN EXTREMELY RARE AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT Indo-Persian Campaign Vanity Box from circa 1780-1800. Box inlaid with exquisite mosaic inlay. In the Indo-Persian style of mosaic with Islamic styles. The mosaic consists of green semi precious stone, bone, brass and pewter in star shaped geometric designs. Box opens up to reveal a travel mirror...

A antique tortoiseshell singing bird box, by Bontems Circa 1890, Going-barrel movement, Motor-view light anomaly... When wound and start/...

A fine and rare 17th-century William and Mary olive oyster floral marquetry lace box, circa 1685. England The cross grain olive moulded and holly banded top is centred by an oval of...

Small jewelry box in red dyed tessellated bone in the style of Karl Springer

This exquisite 19th-century Danish tea caddy, dating to circa 1860, showcases exceptional craftsmanship with its striking rosewood construction and elaborat...

Presenting an absolutely fantastic 19C Anglo Ceylonese lap desk of museum quality. We can safely say that this is one of the finest lap desks we hav...

Elegant and finely crafted rosewood and ivory inlay traveller's writing desk from the late Mughal period of British India (circa 1825), on low bun feet. In excellent condition, with ...

Early 19th century Russian stained and hand-carved Bone Table Casket Kholmogory Box, veneered with panels of foliate engraved stained bone alternating with geometric and foliate fret...

Rectangular Art Deco bone trimmed amboyna burl cigarette box, Trimmed in bone on all edges as well as the surfaces of the opening the amboyna extends to all sides including the botto...

Handd dyed bone blue keepsake box with 3 brass inlay stripes.

Batavia (Jakarta), 19th century, apparently unmarked H. 5 x W. 18 x D. 13 cm Before settling down to business in the former Dutch East Indies, sirih had to be offered in the most e...

A lovely bow front tortoiseshell tea caddy inlaid with mother of pearl flowers and topped with a silver badge. English, circa 1870.

Beautiful solid rosewood with silver plate lid and tessellated bone top , circa 1970's well crafted unique piece great for rings earings necklaces, etc.

A antique tortoiseshell singing bird box, most probably by Bontems, Going barrel movement, Gilt metal two-tone brilliance... When wound and start/stop slide moved to the right, the bird pops up through foliate chased gilt grille, then proceeds to move bone beak, wings and body from side-to-side to good complex continuous synchronized birdsong. The bird with streaked feathered plumage in brown, yellow, turquoise and red, lime green and purple iridescent highlights, highly polished lid interior for full bird reflection, in plain polished tortoiseshell case, twinned laurel leaf engraved bird lid border with the bird lid engraved with love birds and rose united beneath leaf swag arch, accentuated with gilt on silvered ground, hidden key...

Early 18th century inlaid Italian walnut and tortoiseshell vargueno. 6 drawers with fine inlay, iron hardware.

India, probably made in Gujarat for Portuguese Goa, late 17th/early 18th century The tortoiseshell laid over gold foil, and the interior with red lacquer and possibly later added re...

Intricately carved inro in the form of a woven basket. Quality craftsmanship. Opens into two pieces, held together with a rust-red silk string. Made of nat...

An 1894 antique Edward Souter Barnsley & Co. sterling silver and tortoiseshell powder box decorated with a silver laurel leaf and bow inset to...

Presenting an astonishing Japanese Antique Carved Bone bamboo-form snuff bottle, museum quality. Dimension: 2.5" H x 1 " Dia. Condition: Excellent Condition

Antique handcrafted Moroccan jewelry wooden box with camel bone inlay trunk. A large early 20th century decorative Moroccan camel bone casket with bra...

Exquisite handcrafted geometric wood box with micro mosaic inlays of mother of pearl in Khatam artistry, an Ancient Persian technique of inlaying. Moorish style box also features geo...

Charming Anglo Indian box crafted in tropical hardwood. Clad in tessellated bone and hand decorated with shrubbery, tools and windows.

Small Rectangular Leather Jewelry Box on small brass balls with diamond pattern.

An exceptional and rare leather covered wooden case the top with the embossed silver family initials BAB in monogram under a nine pointed crown cartouche; the case is lined with crim...

A scintillating Sapphic scene adorns the cover of this rare erotic snuff box. Set into the top of this burlwood and tortoiseshell container, this high...

Impressive antique Anglo Indian British colonial lidded box handcrafted in a rectangular form featuring a top with a micro marquetry medallion, co...

Rectangular penwork decorated veneer on sandalwood box. The top with a double border centering a floral cartouche, the four sides with wide leafy borders to top and bottom. Fitted wi...

Along with Alfred Klitgaard Knud Albert is regarded as one of the most prolific wood artist of the 1960s. Although KA is mostly known for his strange moder...

Tortoiseshell tea caddy with inlaid mother of pearl from England. Metal lined under two lids.  Excellent condition, circa 1860.

PRESENTING A GORGEOUS 19C Anglo Indian Highly Carved Sadeli Mosaic Sarcophagus Sewing Box. Made in Bombay, India circa 1860-80. Box made of sandalwood with highly carved teak wood reliefs and panels on all sides. Edged with bone and ebony veneers and glorious sadeli mosaic, made from tiny pieces of faux ivory, pewter, green semi-precious stone. The box is in a sarcophagus form with domed lid. The original brass carry handles are on the sides. The interior is in great condition and consists of a removeable mirror under the lid portion, with the original red velvet lining behind it. The base is removeable and contains a number of lidded compartments. 6 of the interior lids on the base, are each inlaid with sadeli mosaic banding. The rest are also carved and chased. The interior is fully complete with 7 lidded faux ivory/bone, thread canisters with sadeli domes and the original bone thimble. The box sits on 4 brass ball or bun feet with the original velvet lining on the base. Some minor repairs and losses, but this box is fully complete. This is ‘rare’ as many of these boxes have not survived in such condition! Included in the sale are 2 photos that were in the box (under the base tray). Interestingly, one of them is a view of downtown Nassau, New Providence (Bermuda) from the early 20C and stamped on the rear. What a ‘journey’ this piece has made! Made in India … travelled to Bermuda, probably via Britain … back to Ireland (where we bought it) …. then to Texas! These boxes were made by superb Indian craftsmen, specifically for sale to the ruling British elite. These types of boxes, carved padouk and sandalwood, (whilst beautiful and superbly crafted) were of a lesser quality, than the more profusely and intricately mosaic inlay, tortoiseshell and ivory boxes, made for the British ‘Upper Classes’ in the areas of Bombay and Vizagapatam. These type of boxes were much more affordable back in 1880 (and indeed today) and would probably have been bought by mid-level diplomats, civil servants or visitors. Sewing boxes (in general), were in EVERY Victorian home in Britain in the 19th Century and like other boxes etc were ‘status symbols’ of your place in society! The more ornate the box, the more ‘Upper Class’ you were! Of it’s type, this one, is one of the very higher quality one’s, than the norm! SADELI MOSAIC: “Anglo Indian boxes were made in India for the English residents from the early part of the 18th century. They were brought back or sent back to England usually by the people who had commissioned them. From the beginning of the nineteenth century they were imported more commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the middle decades. They were very highly valued, especially the early ones, to the extent that the designs were copied on late 19th and early 20th century tins. The ancient art of Sadeli Mosaic is said to have been introduced from Shiraz in Persia via Sind to Bombay, a long time before the Anglo Indian boxes were made. It was a technique, which required a high degree of skill and patience. It was executed very lavishly, in that the frequent cuts wasted a great amount of the precious materials used. The workmanship was however more than commensurable to the value of the materials. Ivory, silver, pewter (or other metals), wood and horn were cut into faceted rods which were bound together to form geometric patterns. When the glue has set, the rods were sliced in transverse sections. This gave the maker a number of angled circular pieces in the original pattern. Several variations of patterns could be achieved by combining the materials in different ways. The ivory was sometimes dyed green to give an extra color. The mosaic pieces in a combination of patterns, often separated by ivory, ebony, horn or silver stringing were used to veneer sandalwood boxes. In the early boxes, which date from the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, there are large panels of mosaic covering tops and sides of boxes. It took incredible skill to cover such large areas without any shakes or wavering of the pattern. The corners and joins on these boxes are impeccably matched. The makers (reputed to be Persian) of Sadeli mosaic made in the first two decades of the 19th century displayed a total understanding of the qualities of the different materials they used. They combined substances, which can expand and contract according to atmospheric conditions with others, which are hard and unyielding. The result was a sharp definition of the lines and patterns, which made up the whole design. On the early boxes the designs look deceptively simple. The fact is, they emerged from a culture, which had mastered geometry and understood how to generate a pattern from a set number of points. The patterns are so harmoniously combined that their incredible complexity is not immediately apparent. The earliest Sadeli boxes...

Contemporary Indian black ground bone box with cream colored overall decorative circles design. Slightly raised pyramid shaped top.

Large Anglo-Indian sewing box with hinged lid opening to a fitted interior and interior compartment in the lid, a lower drawer on the front provides additional storage. The box made ...

A French gilt-bronze mounted, fruit wood and ivory marquetry metal cloisonné jewellery box by Maison Alphonse Giroux and Ferdinand Duvinage, Paris, ...

This extremely rare, early Swiss automaton singing bird box by the famed Charles Bruguier is housed in a case enveloped in luxurious tortoiseshell. Ev...

A large Indian Colonial ‘Vizagapatam’ pen-engraved bone inlaid ebony box Masulipatnam or Vizagapatam, 2nd half 18th century H. 10.8 x W. 47 x D. 34 cm ...

These three antique handcrafted inro cases, are a wonderful collection of Japanese Sagemono (hanging object). These inro have several sections stacked ...

This wonderful example of a 19th century tortoise shell sewing box on stand opens to original fabric lined interior of compartments with a central ...

Presenting an absolutely gorgeous and very rare 19C Anglo Indian Vizigapatam stamp box. Made in Colonial India (the Time of the Raj) circa 1860. Prob...

Decorative keepsake, jewelry box clad in geometric horn and bone tiles, some with hand engraving, lined in wood. A great addition to any desk or coffee table.

Lofty Anglo Indian hinged box handcrafted in mahogany and decorated with porcupine quills and inlaid bone dots.

19th Century Anglo Indian fall front box with six drawers with metal pulls. The exterior and interior inlaid throughout with bone and various woods. Intricate geometric designs cover...

Art Deco shagreen covered wooden box of dark green color and with a bone lid lift.

Standout exotic Anglo Indian lidded box handcrafted in mahogany and clad in tortoise shell with applied lacy bone designs inscribed and painted with flowers. The interior has a mirro...