AN INDIAN INCISED BRASS MONEY BOX
Possibly Rajasthan or Deccan, Central India, 18th century

Of typical rectangular shape, resting on four short bracket feet, rising to a faceted and gabled lid safely hinged at the back, two long and narrow lock plates hinged at the front, surmounted by an arch-shaped handle with a bulbous knob in the middle, the exterior with shallow incised decorative motifs including long-tailed birds, possibly cockerels or peacocks, scrolling vegetal meanders, lotus flowers and rosettes, and geometric fretwork bands around the outer edges, the interior plain, 30.5cm x 20cm x 15.4cm.

Zebrowski mentions that this kind of metal containers, characterised by sharply gabled lids; little legs; hanging hooks; and large locks, were mostly used in Rajasthan as money boxes or coffers. In some remote rural areas, simpler versions of these caskets are still used nowadays to hold coins. The earliest metal examples with plainer motifs 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.