Small North Indian Carved Ivory Box, Mughal Period - 17th Century

Small Mughal box in carved ivory, North India, with gilded metal mounts
The interior is divided into six compartments for spices or medicinal substances.
Late 17th century

Dimensions:
Height: 4.5 cm; width: 10.5 cm; depth: 5.5 cm
(1¾ inches high, 4¼ inches wide, 2¼ inches deep)

Provenance:
Former Cserno collection, Netherlands

CITES permit: 2025/BE01027/CE

Mughal craftsmen in North India showed a remarkable taste for surface ornamentation, decorating their works with floral and abstract motifs, executed using a wide range of techniques. The immense wealth of the Mughal emperors attracted talented craftsmen from many countries to the royal workshops, where they developed their skills and passed them on from generation to generation.

In the late 17th century, these craftsmen began to reconcile traditional Mughal decorative motifs with those of recently introduced flowering plants, creating more naturalistic and structured floral compositions, such as those carved on this box. Boxes and caskets were produced for both local and export markets. Some were made entirely of ivory, others adorned with ivory plates or richly inlaid, with pieces destined for Europe often the most lavishly decorated.