Tibetan Boxes

A Qing Dynasty period red lacquered treasure chest box from the 19th century, with brass hardware. Born during the 19th century, this exquisite Qing Dynasty red lacquered treasure ch...

Art Deco, sterling silver-mounted shagreen table box, London, 1923, Charles Boynton & Sons, Ltd, makers. Measures: 6 1/4" wide x 3 1/2" deep x 2 1/4" high. Wood lined. Shagreen is be...

This is a vintage hand painted leather clad dresser box. This dresser box was handmade in Canton China. This box has two small drawers at the front and a lid that opens up and presen...

A gorgeous antique Tibetan bronze filigree and inlaid agate dresser box, jewelry box, or decorative box China, Early 20th Century Measures: 4.25"W x 3.5"D x 2.25"H. Good original ...

Ghau is a small prayer box worn as pendant by Buddhists as portable shrines which can be pray by prayer during their travel. This Ghau prayer box (travel Buddha...

This is a very good and complete handmade, hardwood chess set game of 32 pieces in a handmade pine box with a sliding lid, which we date to the turn of the 19th Century, Circa 1900. ...

A silver-mounted agate box, probably English, circa 1870 rectangular, comprising two plaques of moss agate set as the base and lid of a hinged box with silver mounts, apparently unm...

A stunning and unusual quality antique treen turnedr domed shape lidded container believed to date from the 19th century or early 20th Century. The turned hard wood container sits sl...

19th-century Continental Tortoise Shell Silver-Mounted 2-Compartmented Box, European, possibly Dutch. Unmarked A unique and whimsical 19th-century continental tortoise shell silver-...

A cribbage board made from brass and steel with intricate inlayed brass details. A felt-lined drawer on one end holds a deck of cards while the two drawers on the opposite end hold pegs for scoring. Each drawer has magnetic retention to keep them snuggly within the box when not in use. This design is modeled off of the traditional board, containing four runs of 30 holes, with each run divided into 5 point sections. An Old English game...

Beautiful 1930's solid brass Chinese jewelry box with dragon inlay motif and wood interior, in vintage condition with some wear to the good and patina to the brass, lightly hand poli...

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...