Shan Silver Burmese Betel Box

Fine Chased & Repoussed Silver Betel Box

This chased silver betel box comprises a high base and a cover. The base sits on a slightly flared foot which is mirrored by a flared rim around the top of the cover. The cover stretches down over most of the box. Its sides are decorated with Burmese/Shan zodiac signs and other symbols, within octagonal cartouches within zig-zag and other borders.

The top is filled with fine, raised floral-like curls, perhaps not unlike the curls that adorn the heads of some Buddha images, arrayed in circles around a central stylised crouching dragon-figure with applied silver horns and prominent ears!

The base is engraved with a mythical Burmese creature amid flowers and foliage within a roundel.

Boxes such as these were used to hold the components of the betel quid; betel being a mild social stimulant that was chewed.

Similar boxes are illustrated in Lewis & Lewis (1984, p. 66).

The box here is in excellent condition. Its decoration and proportions are finer than most similar examples.

Fraser-Lu, S., Silverware of South-East Asia, Oxford University Press, 1989.

Lewis, P. & E. Lewis,

Peoples of the Golden Triangle: Six Tribes in Thailand, Thames & Hudson, 1984.Provenance:

UK antique market