Nepalese Copper & Silver Box Showing the Goddess Durga

This large copper and silver box is has a pleasing form with scalloped sides. All the sides and hinged cover are decorated with finely worked leafy scrollwork that has been pierced copiously. The cover decoration is supplemented by two panels each chased with a dragon.

The sides are embellished with ten silver pierced, engraved and chased plaques eight of which each show a standing deity and two of which are decorated with dragons. The cover has a large silver plaque very finely worked with a figure of the deity Durga, shown with ten arms, and framed by beautifully done, leafy foliage. The goddess is shown in the process of slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishasura.

Durga’s lion mount stands on her right, and her right foot is on its back. The lion waits patiently hoping for a feast of entrails from the slaughtered buffalo.

Goddess worship harks back to the earliest era of Hinduism in India. Durga is a manifestation of Devi, the great goddess. The popularity of goddess worship however declined in many areas from around the 17th century onwards when it was supplanted by Vaishnavism with is increasingly popular male deities of Rama and especially Krishna. Durga remained popular in Nepal however.

The box here might have served some sort of religious function, or possibly was used to hold a betel or paan set.

It has a splendid patina. Its construction is archaic and yet the decoration is masterful.