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Description:
SB421: Anglo Indian basket form box veneered with ebony and inlaid with Sadeli mosaic having an ebony handle and standing on turned ebony feet the inside lined with sandalwood. circa 1840.

Origin: India ;  Circa: 1840 ; Materials:   ivory ebony sandalwood.

Size:  21.5 cm wide by 16.5 cm by  7 cm:   8..46  inches wide by   6.5  inches by   2..75  inches.

Condition: good overall; see images.

The hinged lids open to two compartments lined with sandalwood.

Anglo Indian boxes were made in India for the English residents from the early part of the 18th century. They were brought back or sent back to England usually by the people who had commissioned them. From the beginning of the nineteenth century they were imported more commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the middle decades. They were very highly valued, especially the early ones, to the extent that the designs were copied on late 19th and early 20th century tins.

See: http://hygra.com/anglo.html 

 

Ivory, pewter, ebony, rosewood, and stained ivory were cut into faceted rods which were bound together to form geometric patterns. When the glue has set, the rods were sliced in transverse sections. This gave the maker a number of angled circular pieces in the original pattern. Several variations of patterns could be achieved by combining the materials in different ways. 

The ivory was sometimes dyed green as here to give an extra color and dynamic to the design. 

See: Antique Boxes, Tea Caddies, and Society, 1700--1880 
Antigone Clarke & Joseph O'Kelly, ISBN: 0764316885 

The ancient art of sadeli mosaic was introduced to Bombay from Shiraz in Persia via Sindh. This art was already known in Bombay , a long time before the Anglo Indian boxes were made. It was a technique, which required a high degree of skill and patience. It was executed very lavishly, in that the frequent cuts wasted a great amount of the precious materials used. The workmanship was however more than commensurable to the value of the materials. 

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