of cylindrical form, carved from two sections similarly decorated with a central flower with scrolling tendrils issuing forth above and below and terminating either side in an open poppy flower, with small birds and quadrupeds hidden within the scrolls, the silver domed lid with repoussé work representing Vishnu and a five-headed snake Ananta-Shesha within an oval frame of stylized leaves, with bracket extending the length of the casket either side and plain base
5.6 cm. high

Footnotes

Provenance: formerly in the collection of St John and Cicely Hornby, with circular label bearing their names and the inscription "no. C59."

Charles Henry St John Hornby (1867–1946) founded The Ashendene Press, a small English private press company which operated between 1895-1915 in Chelsea and then again between 1920-1935. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of the British Museum in 1936 and was a trustee of the Wallace Collection. A blue-and-white vase bearing the same label exists in the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The decorative scheme of the flowers on this casket is of a type popularized in the East Indies by the Dutch and represented on furniture, textiles and silver from the Dutch East India Company's territories. Ceylon was influenced by the artistic and cultural traditions of South India, and it is difficult to distinguish between the cultural products of both places. As such, the floral work on this fine casket can be compared to an ivory box in the Victoria and Albert Museum (13-1986) attributed to Ceylon in the mid-17th Century and an ivory-veneered cabinet (V&A IS 70-195); (see Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London 2002, no. 19).

The silver mounts are contemporary with the ivory casket and the imagery on the lid can be related to South Indian temple jewellery pendants of the 17th Century.

Saleroom notices

This lot contains or is made of ivory and in February 2014 the United States Government announced the intention to ban the import of any ivory into the USA.

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Y	CITES
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A fine silver-mounted carved ivory Casket Ceylon or South India, mid 17th Century

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Oliver White