Belgium Snuff Boxes and Tobacco

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

Dutch chest in fruit wood and carved bone applications, 18th Century Dutch school. Measurements: 20 X 29 X 18cm Very good condition.

A wonderful hand-painted papier-mâché box beautifully decorated in a blue and gold. Kashmir, India, circa turn of the century.

A very handsome early 19th century Georgian pocket snuff box, the richly figured burr birch case inlaid with ebony stringing and an ebony shield-shaped cartouche, the functioning lid opening on wooden...

The elaborately carved snuff box with a scene of two mermaids on the cover and deeply carved shell on the reverse.

Agate box or snuff-box in of circular form with gently bombé sides, the gold mounted lid is chased with scrollwork. Probably Georges II period. Unmarked gold...

Collection of 6 Chinese cloisonne teapots in varying shapes and designs of flora and fauna. The highest one is 5.5'' H x 2 W x 2.5'' D. the sm...

Signed and Dated 1961 USSR From our Boxes collection, we are delighted to offer this unusual Russian Papier Mache Box. The box of slim rectangula...

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...

The base & hinged lid are fashioned from panels of porphyry, specifically that of ‘Rhomb’ Porphyry, which is a relatively rare volcanic rock with very distinctive phenocrysts (cr...

Very funny little snuff box with a text about Etimologie; the true learning or real learning, on the lids outside and a hidden erotic motive on the inside of the lid.

Italian/French Enamel and Silver Snuff Box. Late 19th Century, the interior lid impressed 22, no other visible marks. The rectangular hinged box with an interior gilt wash, the lid ...