λ TWO ANGLO-INDIAN HORN AND IVORY-INLAID SANDALWOOD BOXES
Possibly Vizagapatam or Murshidabad, Eastern India, mid to late 19th century

Each box designed in the shape of a basket, different in size but identical in style, surmounted by a rounded swing handle and with two sloping hinged lids on the side, resting on four ivory-carved feet in the shape of lion paws, the sandalwood body covered in openwork and full plaques of ivory and buffalo horn, the decoration on the handle and edges of the lids consisting of black-tinted vegetal festoons with rosettes and further flowerheads, the centre of the lids and sides of the lower body enhanced with cusped cartouches featuring Hindu gods and goddesses like Gaja Lakshmi, Ganesha, Narasimha, Vishnu Anantashayana and more amidst intricately pierced ivory vegetal meanders, the interior plain except for a dividing openwork panel repeating similar vegetal motifs of the exterior, the largest 25cm x 30.5cm x 22.5cm including the handle.

For another similar sandalwood, ivory and horn 19th-century Vizagapatam box, please see Sotheby’s London, 8 October 2014, lot 174.

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