Old burl wood (colonial?) box, with silver/brass mountings

Hello,

Can anybody tell me more about my colonial box I just acquired?
It is 10 cm high, 20 cm long and 18 cm wide.

Is here anybody who can tell me more about the age and origin?

It looks like some kind of colonial box to me, but very well made and shows great craftmanship.
The mountings are in gilded brass and silver.

Thank you in advance,

MBC

 

The mounts look as if they are held on with screws. A period piece would have the mounts inlaid and not visibly fixed like that. There is a contradiction between the elaboration of the mounts and the relative crudity of the fixing.

I don't think it is all that old. The lining certainly isn't. Does the lock have a maker's mark?

 

It certainly looks antiqu-ish...but that doesn't mean that it is. My guess is that it's a presentation box or something. Or a trinket box.

 

Not colonial by a long shot. More Victorian. To me,it looks like its got a little age,maybe 1870s. I think that burl might be faux painted. But Im no expert .

 

'Colonial' may mean the era of the British Empire, so if it's Victorian, that may still class as 'colonial'. Unless you're talking about Colonial America, then yeah, I doubt it's THAT old.

 

Ain't sayin it is an' I aint sayin it ain't, but that particular shade of velveteen used in the lining reminds me of the fabric (velveteen) used in contemporary presentation boxes for Indian "silver" (mugs, salt & pepper, etc)

 

I stand corrected !

 

I am with the others in thinking this is probably rather new. A few pictures of details such as the hinges, lock attachment, key, and base will probably confirm. Still a gorgeous box.

 

Let me say right off, I know next to nothing about woods and am horrible on dating such things from pictures. The exterior style of this box as to the wood and the mountings may??? be in the style, not of the period, of the wood boxes with silver mounts presumably from Batavia, Dutch East Indies dating from late 1700s/early 1800s. Many of the early Dutch East Indies boxes were used as betel nut boxes. Here are a few of them. Again want to stress the interior of yours doesn't seem to date anywhere near that time period because of the hinges and the lining.

http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/1397.html
http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/1716.html
http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/2722.html
http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/3194.html

--- Susan

 

I don't see a lot of age there , and the way the metal is attached to the box......with what look like small nails or pins....????

 

You're wrong here.
The mounts are held on with silver pins.
A "Dutch colonial" period piece would NOT have the mounts inlaid and always visibly fixed like that. I have seen several others in the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, with the same kind of attachment of the mountings.

The lock doesn't have a maker's mark. But I know that a lot of silver and locks from Indonesia or the Coromandel coast didn't had all maker's marks. So that is not a criterion to me.

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I was talking about Dutch colonial.

 

Are you saying it "might" be faux painted, or it "is" faux painted?
If it "is" faux painted, at what age did they start with this?

 

Thank you for your input Susan.
These are indeed similar boxes (but different executed) which I am refering to. As you see they all have pins at their mountings, but are old.
Some of these boxes could be from the VOC period and later still in fashion during the Dutch colonial period in the Dutch Indies.

 

I do see a lot of age here. The mountings have silver parts, gilded brass parts. The gild at the lid almost is all gone (because of use). The gilded parts at the front side almost is intact because this ofcourse has not been touched as regularly as the lid (when putting something in or getting something out the box.

Also there is a black colour "border" just around the silver mountings. This is because of the silver, which is normal on pieces with age.
The mountings were very dark, and I cleaned them to bring out the silver and gilded brass like it is now.

The valveteen also looks old to me, and also is damaged at the bottom where the cotton is getting out. At the lid the velveteen is still intact. But if it has the same age as the box itself, I don't know.

 

I doubt if you would find that intense blue colour on anything dyed before the invention of analine dyes in the mid 19th C.

And of course the Dutch colonial period in the East Indies lasted till 1942. So a box made in the late 19th C would indeed be colonial period.

 

The mountings were very dark, and I cleaned them to bring out the silver and gilded brass like it is now.

Well.....that explains that !