A BRASS MONEY BOX
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE GERMAN COLLECTION
Possibly Rajasthan, North-Western India, 19th century

Of typical rectangular shape, resting on four short stepped circular feet, rising to a sharply gabled lid safely hinged to the back, at the top of the lid an elephant finial, the sides of the lid with stylised birds in reverse, the exterior engraved and worked in a cross-hatched style reminiscent of woven textiles and nets, to the front and back a horizontal register of several concentric coin-like roundels, the interior plain, 19.5cm x 12cm x 7.5cm.

Zebrowski mentions that this kind of metal containers, characterised by sharply gabled lids; little legs; hanging hooks; and large locks, were used in Rajasthan as money boxes or coffers. In some remote areas of this Indian region, simpler versions of these caskets are still used to hold coins. The earliest metal examples seem to have started circulating around the 17th and 18th centuries. For a comparable example, please see M. Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, 1997, p. 284, fig. 481.