Dutch Colonial Bible Box

Calamander Wood Bible Box with Silver Mounts

Sri Lanka or Batavia

second half of the 18th century

width: 23cm, depth: 18.5cm, thickness at front: 7cm

Dutch colonial bible boxes are quite rare. This example, which is in very fine condition, follows the conventional form of being thicker at the front than at the back to emulate a leather-bound book, and having a hinged lid.

It is fashioned from calamander wood, a rare and particularly hard wood related to ebony, which is native to India, Sri Lanka and Eastern Indonesia.

The top is beautifully carved with scrolls and grooves. The ‘spine’ of the box is gadrooned which is repeated on top lid. The sides and front are gently crenulated or scalloped.

The front corners are edged with solid silver fretwork and engraved borders that include flower motifs. This is mirrored in the elegant, heart-shaped key-plate, and on more pierced plates attached to the rear sides and to the lid at the corners and across the top. Rivets to the front edge and top are hidden by domed silver buttons.

A brass lock is present. It is old but as is usually the case, it might be a later replacement.

Inside, the lid is supported by elaborate hinge straps. These too are pierced.

Tchakaloff (1998, p. 130) illustrates a cabinet attributed to possibly South India and to the eighteenth century which has pierced-metal fittings that are similar to the box here.

Surviving Dutch colonial bible boxes are relatively few. Veenendaal (1985, p. 86) illustrates two examples, one of which also is illustrated in Voskuil-Groenewegen (1998, p. 92).

Bible boxes were used to hold a small personal bible. The wives of Dutch officials would walk in public in the Dutch settlements of south India, Sri Lanka and the East Indies followed by slaves or servants who held aloft umbrellas, carried betel boxes and perhaps a spittoon. Sometimes such a procession included a servant or slave who carried a bible box such as the example here.

References

Tchakaloff, T.N. et al, La Route des Indes – Les Indes et L’Europe: Echanges Artistiques et Heritage Commun 1650-1850, Somagy Editions d’Art, 1998.

Veenendaal, J., Furniture from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India During the Dutch Period, Foundation Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara, 1985.

Voskuil-Groenewegen, S.M. et al, Zilver uit de tijd van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, Waanders Uitgevers, 1998.

Provenance

UK art market

Inventory no.: 2228

SOLD