$1,500.00
Fine antique Anglo-Indian hand carved wooden jewelry box inlaid. A Nice Mughal Anglo Indian Pen Box 19th Century The box with a Mughal Indian palace architectural motif design intricately carved. Mosaic marquetryl, satinwood adorn this exquisite 19th century inlay box. The inside is lined with royal deep wine red velvet. No key. The ancient art of Sadeli Mosaic is said to have been introduced from Shiraz in Persia via Sind to 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. Museum quality Mughal Islamic artwork like the ones in Doris Duke Islamic Art Museum. Craftsmen made the first boxes to be decorated with Sadeli mosaic, incised to give further definition to the decoration, directly inlaid into the wood. The shape of the early boxes was either sloping at the front with a flatter section at the back, reminiscent of English writing slopes, or rectangular. Artisans inlaid the borders with stylized floral scrolls and the centers with a single floral motif following a circular or oval symmetrical or asymmetrical pattern.