Indian, Gujarat
Casket, about 1600
Wood coated with colored resin and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, 19.5 x 20 x 19.5 cm (7 11/16 x 7 7/8 x 7 11/16 in.)
This small, rectangular, lidded box is made of brown stained wood covered with colored resin and inlaid with mother-of-pearl designs. The box has a tapering lid that flattens into a long, narrow rectangle at the top. The sides and top of the lid are decorated similar to the sides of the box, with inlaid multicolor resin and mother of pearl forming swirling spirals of stems with leaves and flowers. The botanical designs are surrounded by a border of small mother of pearl rectangles and quatrefoil forms, although some are missing. There are two simple silver hinges connecting the box and lid and an elaborate silver clasp with a stylized flower form. The base of the box has bracket feet decorated with mother of pearl motifs in tiny X shapes. The inside of the box is divided into two small side compartments with rectangular lids and a larger, square, central, unlidded compartment. The inside of the box is painted red and decorated with painted gold botanical motifs.
Gothic Room
Commentary
This casket is made of wood covered with colored resin and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Although it was acquired in 1899 by Isabella Stewart Gardner as a Venetian work of the 17th or 18th century, it is actually Indian and at least a century older. Its form, materials, and decorations are closely related to caskets from the Indian state of Gujarat, which is on the western coast of India and a range of objects decorated with mother-of-pearl during the 16th and 17th centuries. At this time, Gujarati mother-of-pearl objects were produced both for local consumption, as well as for export to the Middle East and Europe. The precise origin of this type of rectangular casket with a beveled lid remains unclear. However, it may have its roots in Chinese decorative arts from as early as the 10th century. The form was then adopted in different regions throughout Asia. Gujarati caskets can be distinguished from earlier Chinese, Korean, and Timurid caskets by the plinth with bracket feet, which one can see in this casket.