A SILVER LIME BOX WITH KONBAUNG ROYALTYLOWER BURMA (MYANMAR), CIRCA 1910 3 1/8 in. (8 cm) high; 4 in. (10 cm) long; 5 1/2 troy oz (176 grams) approximate weight Silver Lime Boxes Lime boxes are designed to contain a key ingredient in the custom of betel chewing, which is widespread throughout Southeast Asia and practiced by all socio-economic classes for over 2,000 years. Mostmonly, hosts present betel quid to guests as a sign of hospitality and friend. The betel quid contains three main ingredients: an Areca catechu palm nut; a Piper betel pepper plant leaf; and 'lime' paste (slaked lime, a mixture of calcium oxide and water). Additional ingredients may include tobacco, tree bark, black pepper, ginger, and other spices. Owning the silver accoutrements for betel chewing in was an indicator of status in Burmese society, as the vernacular medium for such objects was generally lacquer. 19th- and early 20th-century portrait photography of Konbaung royalty, Shan chiefs (Saohpas), and top-ranking Burmese families often featured silver betel boxes in the foreground. The Konbaung Royal Family in Burmese Silver When the British exiled the last ruler of the Kongbaung dynasty, King Thibaw, in 1885, they forever abolished sumptuary laws that had restricted the possession of silver to royalty and high nobility. However, the precious metal still maintained elite connotations, perhaps most explicit in the nostalgic depiction of Thibaw and his family, reminding Burmese of their royal heritage and former sovereign independence. Published: David Owens, Burmese Silver Art: Masterpieces Illuminating Buddhist, Hindu and Mythological Stories of Purpose and Wisdom , 2020, p.102, no.S70, fig.3.110.