Sri Lankan Silver

Chased & Engraved Silver Box

Sri Lanka

circa 1900

length: 18cm, height: 6cm, width: 9.5cm, weight: 348g

This very fine silver lozenge-shaped box has a tightly fitting hinged lid, curved ends and a slightly domed lid and base. It is finely chased on the cover and all sides with superb panels of complex, interlocking Sri Lankan or Ceylonese vegetal scrolling as well as addorsed sacred swan or hamsa motifs, double-headed parrot motifs,, and makara motifs.

The base is beautifully engraved with a floral and scrolling leaf design around a central floral roundel.

Such boxes were used by the Kandyan nobility and others to store small items of jewellery. Most probably they were also produced for the nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial market as keepsakes and to showcase the silversmith’s considerable skill.

The box has a good weight, is in excellent condition and is a fine example of this type of box.

References

Coomaraswamy, A.K., Mediaeval Sinhalese Art, Pantheon Books, 1956 reprint of the 1908 edition.

Provenance

UK art market

Inventory no.: 2726

SOLD