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.
This multipart Betel Set consists of a round lidded box, used to store all the set paraphernalia; four cylindrical containers, used for storing betel nut, mineral lime powder or paste, and spices; two bowls with covers and stands, used for storing betel leaves and washing them; and a serving tray for the prepared quids. All the components are adorned with exuberant foliate and floral scrolling vines and various geometric motifs used as borders. The decorative program of the outer storage box is the most complex, with lush bands or fields of dense designs covering almost every surface in a veritable horror vacui. The most noteworthy decorative motif is the repeated crescent moon encircling a six-petaled flower blossom, which is an apparent allusion to the crescent moon and star long featured in Islamic imagery.
Ornate storage and serving boxes made in several primary shapes from a variety of precious and mundane materials were used to store and offer pan quids to honored guests from at least the sixteenth century onward in northern India. By the late nineteenth century, elaborate betel sets had evolved with multiple compartments.
