Featured Friends...pretty little hexagonal morocco covered box with brass

Hello everyone xx

I have this little gorgeous hexagonal box which is covered with some sort of leather-type stuff. (Thought it may have been morocco but I am as ever clueless.) It has a reddish tinge.

Does anyone know how old it is,and maybe what is was made for?
(Or is it just a box?)
I think the bits on it are made of brass...are some of them are vaguely fleur de lys-ish?
It's only small, two and a half inches down (7 cms) and three and a half inches across the top (9 cms)










Got loads of other pics if required xxx

Thank you friends xx​

 

I don't recognize the motifs from the little I saw of Morocco recently, but I did see a lot of leather and brass work and small leather covered boxes. The French started their conquest of Morocco in 1907 and made Morocco a "protectorate" in 1912. They were there until 1937. French architecture mixed with Arabic is the dominant style I saw in the main cities, and French is one of two main languages in Morocco. So vaguely French would fit. Can't help otherwise.

 

Thank you Kiko xx

Is that leather stuff that's sometimes on older books actually from Morocco? Off to google xx​

 

Here is a picture of a leather tannery in Fes, Morocco. There were tanneries in other cities as well, big and small.

 

Wow Kiko that IS something! Did you see this when you were there the other day? Thank you for showing me <3

 

Yes. We toured a number of cities and saw amongst other things various Moroccan crafts such as the production of Argan Oil, mosaic tile creation, bathroom sinks, tables etc created from massive fossil beds, leather tanneries, inlaid wood boxes - I could go on. They make some beautiful stuff, no antiques places were visited though.

 

Oh my. I think you had enough goin' on without any antique places! Sounds like a wonderful trip,Kiko xx

 

I lived near a tannery for a thankfully short time. They reek.

 

Can utterly imagine. EEKK

 

I don't want to. I know what tanneries used to use! (phew) There's a reason leather-working was one of the lowest jobs on the "class" scale.

 

You're right. The odor was most foul.

 

I just got a broad idea by the smell. We saw a lot of people doing various hand work.

 

At that it's not as bad as it used to be. One of the main ingredients was human pee, back when.

 

Tanneries are bad but woad villages might have been even worse. The production of woad caused an odor described as something like cat urine and rotten cabbage mixed with feces. It was nauseating. So nauseating, in fact, that Queen Elizabeth I issued a proclamation in 1585 that forbade the production of woad within four miles of a market town and five miles from any of the Queen’s residences!

 

The Queen was no dummy ... and had a decent sense of smell!