Brunei silverware

Engraved Silver Lidded Box

This cylindrical silver box and tight-fitting cover is from Brunei. It is engraved all over with bands of Islamic-inspired geometric patterns interspersed with bands of endless scrolling floral and leaf patterns based on the bunga air mulih (water flower plant), a creeping flowering plant that grows in fresh water around Kampung Ayer (Water Village), the village on stilts that is built over the Brunei River which flows through Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei’s capital.

The lid is engraved with a central roundel filled with a

bunga air mulih motif around which typically Malay petal motifs and engraved.

The base is impressed with the maker’s marks of ‘ AH SG’.

Boxes such as these severed several purposes including storing cigarettes or cheroots.

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

UK art market