Rectangular, the hinged domed cover centered by a beveled rectangular lapis lazuli plaque surrounded by enameled panels with stylized blue cranes and green aquatic plants and date palms above borders of swimming fish, the sides similarly decorated, the interior enameled with stylized blue and red flowers and foliage and fitted with four compartments with oval scent bottles similarly enameled with red flower petals and green trees, apparently unmarked
3 in. (7.6 cm.) long

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 27 April 1995, lot 455.
Acquired by Ann and Gordon Getty from the above.

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Lot Essay

This small box can almost certainly be attributed to a silversmith from the city of Lucknow due to the border of swimming fish found on the cover and the sides. as Wynyard Wilkinson explains in Indian Silver: 1858-1947 (London, 1999, p.126-127), "the fish was the symbol of the Nawabs of Oudh and, because of this, it was much used by the silversmiths of Lucknow, especially as border decoration. This border, of fish, indicates that a piece was made in Lucknow, regardless of the rest of the decoration on a piece."