Untitled

Unknown

mid-17th century · Ivory with silver gilt mounts, gilded metal lining, finial with garnet in gold setting · Asian Art

This is one of a small corpus of luxury ivory objects produced in Sri Lanka in the seventeenth century. Probably commissioned by a Dutch East India Company merchant operating in Sri Lanka, it would have been offered on the Amsterdam luxury market to grace a lady’s apartment as a container for pearls and jewels. Similar luxury goods are inventoried in European noble collections from the late seventeenth century.

Artist

Unknown

Date

mid-17th century

Medium

Ivory with silver gilt mounts, gilded metal lining, finial with garnet in gold setting

Culture

Sri Lanka, Kandy

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Dr. Sukumar Nagendran Gift, in honor of Christine Ann Nagendran, 2022