Featured Cheap Mid-Eastern Box

I love these little things.They're generally cheap and there's a million of 'em.This one was $7.99 & prob made '50 thru the 90's,size-7 1/2" by 5 1/2".
Not even sure what they are actually called.This is the only one I've got now,got it because i liked the tones in the MOP.
There's a few examples on this forum of actual precious antique ones-the marquetry is unbelievably tiny,elaborate & fine.
You'll find a few sellers listing these newer ones for $50-into the hundreds,these sellers are deluded.
PS-Wish the mid-eastern carpets were cheaper !

 

Yup...some of them were made as 'puzzle boxes; several cleverly disguised sliding panels that must be moved in a fixed sequence to open an interior 'secret chamber'.

 

The memory of Asian puzzle boxes takes me back . Once or twice a year our parents would take us to Chinatown in San Francisco-what a wonder ! In the 50's they still had ducks hanging in the windows and real ivory carvings on display,pearls,puzzle boxes,and real Chinese food-that smelled way better than the Fair food (and we loved deep-fried fair food !).
The most glorious thing of all-I was in 1950's San Francisco with 'dressed-to-the nines' Frisco folks and surrounded by authentic (and exotic) actual Chinese people !

 

So do I. I still have a similar box that my father brought back from a business trip to Syria in the 60s.

 

I love that you dig these wacky little things AJ ! They're wonderful inexpensive little pieces of folk art.
Hey-I'd be grabbing piles of antique rugs,saddlebags and Moroccan furniture if I was Bezos,Zuckerberg or Musk.
PS-Anyone coming of age in the 60's remembers these little containers holding various illicit substances.They usually were sitting on top of a 'Made In India' brass tray on top of a giant wooden spool table.

 

This is a khatam box - I used to work at a middle eastern publisher, there were a few knocking about and I got one when the company was sold. I think they began as Persian but lots of places make them now… they are considered quite sophisticated in Britain - You can even buy them in the British Museum gift shop :https://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/egyptian-mother-of-pearl-box-large.html

 

Khatam Box-Thanks for the right name Van.The British Museum's extraordinary.
We were in the UK a few months ago and (my lady) discovered a few smaller but extraordinary museums-The Pitt Rivers in Oxford & The Petrie Museum of Egyptology, University College, London.
The Petrie's near where The Bloomsbury Group hung out-there's a beautiful little park w/ a good lunch hut there.

 

As many of you know I collect 19th c forms of micro mosaics ie Sadeli, Khatam ect and I often show them to friends but ever increasingly my friends keep buying me post 1950's north African boxes thinking they are the same. My best friend bought me this box the other day and said well what do you think? I love him to bits and didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't what I collect.
To me there is a massive difference between 19th c Sadeli/khatam and this north African tourist pieces.
The amount of post 1950's N African pieces I now have is getting quite a problem because I can't get rid of them nor can I display them lol

 

Real Sadeli and Khatam

 

put all your friends in a room...& give em a 1/2 hour tutorial.....

 

I would but I have already bored them to death with my obsession, if they haven't got it by now there's no hope lol

 

This is just a small section of the Khatam box above, the workmanship is amazing

 

Raver-You're the Guy I was thinking of when I shared this humble little piece,welcome back !
That last Khatam box is a masterwork.I remember in one of your earlier posts you said-'If you see this kind of micro-mosaic border on a piece it's pre-1920 (?) or pre-19th century (?).You said that type of motif & workmanship is the best clue to finding a great piece.
PS=I'll see if I can find that post or,perhaps you'll share that link with us again ?

 

I believe this B&W border (on the lids farthest edge),that almost looks like 'petit point'-is the giveaway to an older piece that you mentioned .Perhaps because of the finess of the work.