Enjoyed throughout South and Southeast Asia, pan is a ceremonial amenity and digestif made of cut betel nut, mineral lime powder or paste, sundry spices, and sometimes tobacco and even gold or silver foil, all wrapped in a betel leaf (Piper betle). The three-cornered prepared product is known as a pan quid. Myriad diverse accoutrements made of costly materials were made for use in the popular social custom and ritual of sharing pan. Ornate round, polygonal, lobed, or foliate containers (pandan) were used to store the diverse ingredients and to offer guests the prepared pan quids. By the late 19th century, elaborate betel sets had evolved with interior compartments for storing the betel leaves and spices of the delicacy, the implements used to prepare it, and serving trays. These accessories were often made in sets with matching decoration, see AC1997.229.3.1-.12. For pandans to serve quids, see M.81.278.4a-b, AC1993.137.1.1-.2, and M.2003.231.12.1-.2. For vessels to keep pan leaves, see M.76.2.3a-b and M.2013.220.17. For containers to hold lime paste, see AC1999.17.2 and M.2003.231.14a-b.
This delicate openwork repoussé gold cover for a betel box was fashioned to embellish a small round container used to hold betel nut or lime. Made of precious or base metals, the small boxes were often elaborately decorated with intricate figural and/or vegetable decoration. They could also have fine gold overcovers, such as the LACMA cover that is adorned with a phoenix roundel on the top and scrolling vegetation on the sides. Examples of such under boxes are in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart (SA 37 064 a+b L and 78 378). See J. E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, Indo-Javanese Metalwork (Stuttgart: Linden-Museum, 1984), pp. 182-183, nos. 161-162.