A rare lacquered wood betel-box (pandan) North India, mid 17th Century


of waisted circular form with flaring lid and handle, decorated in polychrome and gilt with a nobleman and attendants on a deer hunt with leopard in a hilly landscape, with later fabric interior and felt covering to base 20.3 cm. diam.
|ProvenanceCollection de Madame M., Thierry de Maigret, 18 May 2016, lot 109.This is a rare surviving example of Indian lacquer from the 17th Century. The figural decoration bears strong resemblance to provincial Mughal paintings of the period. A papier-maché box with similar decoration in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Accession Number: 58.159) also depicts a deer hunt and scenes of an emperor receiving gifts. For another example in wood sold at Christie's see Art of the Islamic Worlds, London, 6 October 2011, lot 379. The shape is reminiscent of north Indian brass pandans from the period, a number of which are illustrated in Mark Zebrowski, Gold, Silver & Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, pp. 269-270.