APPARENTLY UNMARKED, FORMER DUTCH EAST INDIES, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A Dutch Colonial silver-mounted amboyna casket
Apparently unmarked, former Dutch East Indies, late 18th Century
Of rectangular form with two silver swing handles, the mounting with incised floral decorations
8 cm. high x 19.5 cm. wide x 13.5 cm. deep

Special notice

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €20,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €20,001 and €800.000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €800.000. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

Lot Essay

Small boxes of tortoiseshell, silver and wood decorated in silver or gold were widely prized throughout the Indies as items of status and luxury. They were used either as jewel boxes or sirih boxes. An important social custom in the Indies, to which the Dutch and other Europeans had to adjust, was the sirih ceremony, or pinang chewing. Declining a sirih quid offered at court was viewed as an insult, and Europeans soon adapted to the custom by carrying decorated sirih boxes to important social visits. Sirih boxes with internal divisions for the ingredients and accoutrements to make sirih quid are generally 20cm wide. According to Veenendaal the smaller boxes of tortoiseshell with silver mounts, but with no internal compartments, were possibly used to store ready-made sirih quids.
Cf. G. Roell & D. Viljoen, Uit Verre Streken,Exhibition catalogue, Maastricht, 2008

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