Jewel casket

mid-17th century

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 242

This is one of a small corpus of luxury ivory objects produced in Sri Lanka in the seventeenth century. Probably commissioned by a Dutch East India Company merchant operating in Sri Lanka, it would have been offered on the Amsterdam luxury market to grace a lady’s apartment as a container for pearls and jewels. Similar luxury goods are inventoried in European noble collections from the late seventeenth century.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Jewel casket
Date: mid-17th century
Culture: Sri Lanka, Kandy
Medium: Ivory with silver gilt mounts, gilded metal lining, finial with garnet in gold setting
Dimensions: H. 5 1/8 in. (13 cm); Diam. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
Classification: Ivories
Credit Line: Purchase, Dr. Sukumar Nagendran Gift, 2022
Object Number: 2022.386
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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