- Title
- Casket
- Date Made
- c.1850-1950
- Medium
- Parcel-gilt silver, blue glass insets; incised gold overlay
- Dimensions
- 2 x 7 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (5.08 x 18.42 x 10.8 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2004.11
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This exquisite decorative casket, most likely a jewelry box, is made in a distinctive technique termed thewa (setting) wherein lace-like matrices of chased gold foil are fused onto the surface of colored glass. A wide range of objects have been created in this fashion since the 19th century, primarily in Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, but also to a lesser extent in nearby Rutlam and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Pratapgarh works characteristically feature green colored glass, whereas blue and red glass were also favored in Rutlam and Indore.
The exterior of the rectangular casket is covered by sixteen horizontal plaques of blue glass overlaid with chased gold foil scenes. The lid has a flat top with beveled sides. The central panel is a royal procession in a forest. The upper register of the split-level scene depicts a king and queen on elephants with a retinue of musicians and soldiers on foot and riding a horse and camel. The bottom register portrays a bevy of swans at a lake flanked by antelope. The beveled sides have repeated compositions. On the front and back are tripartite plaques portraying a princess seated in the center under a pavilion. She is watching a dance performance and has several attendants bringing her refreshments and whisking flies away. On the end plaques, a princess is enjoying a swing with attendants, dancers and musicians, and two cows. The bottom of the box has scenes of the hunt and animal combat. The casket stands on four feet in the form of a lion’s paw.