Palembang Lotus-Form Lacquered Box (Ponjen)

This container, shaped like a double lotus flower and made of teak wood with a black lacquer covering and gilt decoration, is known as a ponjen.

The gilt decoration is in the form of floral sprays.

It comprises a base, a mid-section and a cover – all of which come apart as three separate parts.

It was used to store dowry items and was kept in the bridal chamber. Such a box was used by the people of Palembang in South Sumatra who were essentially Malay but with strong localised Chinese (Peranakan) influence.

The lotus was a symbol of purity rising from the mud as it does and yet pristine and beautiful, and so the lotus-form pronjen were an appropriate symbol of the virginal bride.

The box has obvious age. There is a crack to the base (which has been repaired) and some of the extremities of the lotus petal decoration have some chipping. It is however, large and sculptural.