Carved wooden box

I wonder if any of you can identify this box please ? It has been used for storing incense but that may not have been its original purpose. I’m looking to establish its origins.

 

Eagle + snake = México.

Debora

 

Thanks Deborah. I’ll do some digging - any other advice to the eta, materials would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome, Daniel. That is a really nice box, what is the size, and can we see it open?
It is yours, you can use it any way you like.

One eagle with one snake on top of a cactus is Mexico, but a total of two birds and four snakes with knotwork, is a different kettle of bir.. uhm fish.
My guess is antique European, maybe Slavic or Nordic.
It looks like the eyes are inlaid with a darker wood, I've seen that style before. If I only remembered where....

 

Hi Guys,

Thanks for helping out. I attach a couple more pics as requested. One shows the base which is a bit more rustic. The other inside, again quite rustic. The eyes and the eternal knots have something inlaid, I don’t think it’s wood. It’s not metallic so my guess is it’s a stone of sorts or something that is easily carved. A knife cuts into it (carefully - for investigative purposes only) in a similar fashion to sharpening a pencil lead. Also I attach with a 30cm ruler so you have an idea of scale. Hope that helps.

 

Thank you Daniel, it is really nice.

So too long for a pen box. Maybe for knitting needles. I would put a necklace in it.

 

Gorgeous... Welcome, @DANIEL CARRUTHERS

 

Maybe ebony...

 

You mean for the inlay, scouts?

 

Yes - It's used on my little maple daruma and others. Just looks similar.

 

I don’t think the inlay is wood, I initially thought it was metal but it is not magnetic and can be scraped with a steel blade.
I’m not really one for knitting so we’ll stick with the josticks.

If anyone else can throw some light on the age and origin of it then I’m all ears. Thanks for all your help.

 

I keep thinking, I know I've seen it before. The same way it sticks out a bit, like here:

I suspected as much.

 

Soapstone or onyx maybe? Not all metals are attracted to a magnet so could still be metal if it’s not stone or wood. Does look like a dark wood. Onyx is used a lot in Mexican jewelry I believe so a artisan making a box might have it as his or her disposal. Maybe even scraps from jewelry making.

 

No, it isn't onyx, I have seen it before, just can't remember where. It must have been on either a European carving or maybe Asian.
There is no reason to think the box is Mexican, since a straight-beaked bird surrounded by two snakes is not the Mexican eagle on a cactus with a snake in its beak.
Birds and snakes are symbols people in Asia and Europe have used since pre-history.

Remember, the total of eagle, cactus, and snake was the sign for the ancestors of the Aztecs to settle in the site where they built Tenochtitlán. The vision was very precise, they didn't look for just any old bird with two snakes in its vicinity. If they had just looked for any bird with two snakes in its vicinity, they would have settled close to their starting point, which could have been in the US.
This very precise vision became the symbol of Mexico.