Box — 750- 850

The circular box is carved from one piece of ivory, and shaped like the lower half of a gourd. The carved decoration, which has a flat outer surface, consists of five-lobed vine leaves enclosed within the spiralling tendrils of the vines, which originate from small vases. The vine scroll is inhabited by three birds. The background of the ivory carving was painted at some point in its history. A wide band of plain ivory at the neck is encircled by a gilded metal band (copper with applied mercury gilding). The lid is beech wood, decorated in gesso with red (vermilion) and blue (azurite) pigments, and gold leaf. The design is divided into eight compartments, each containing an abstract vegetal motif. The spherical rock crystal knob is pierced by a metal spike which terminates in a ring. The lid and metal mounts are of a later, as yet unspecified date. They had obviously experienced substantial wear before the object's acquisition by the Museum in 1866.