A carved ivory casket, Sri Lanka, circa 1600

This exceptional casket represents the work of the finest Sinhalese ivory carvers and relates to a rare group of ivory boxes that were produced during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century in Kotte, Ceylon. Initially these boxes were sent by the Kotte kingdom rulers to Portugal as diplomatic gifts that were then distributed by the Portuguese Queen Catherine of Austria amongst her European relatives. Contemporary travellers to Ceylon commented on the high quality of these ivories, including Francois Valentijn who noted "entire cabinets covered with ivory and very ingeniously carved" (Jackson and Jaffer 2004, p.256). 

This box follows the coffered rectangular form of a European casket but is decorated with a mixture of European and Ceylonese iconography demonstrating how local craftsmen successfully combined European elements with their own decorative vocabulary. The entire surface is carved with fleshy scrolls issuing flowers and fruit that are not only representative of the island's vegetal abundance but are also inspired by the Dutch herbals that would have reached Ceylon via the Dutch East India Company (VOC) from the early seventeenth century onwards.

Mythical kinnaris are carved within roundels on the top of the cover. These celestial beings are part female part hamsa and are believed to have originated from the Himalayas. Celestial nymphs known as nari-lata form a panca-nari-geta, five woman knot, as seen on the entrance to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy (Coomaraswamy 1956, pl.91). The front panel depicts a procession of eight female figures supporting two deities with their intertwined limbs forming a motif known as an ashta-nari ratha (ibid.). They are flanked by roundels of vidalas, mythical creatures part lion part griffin (Jaffer 2002, p.53, no.19). The serapendiya and the kundi rakkan banding of the roundels and around the edges of the casket are also typical forms of Sinhalese ornamentation (see Coomaraswamy 1956 pp.81, 83 and 108). 

The assimilation of Dutch and Sinhalese decorative elements continued throughout the seventeenth and into the early eighteenth century appearing on furniture, textiles and silver from across the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) territories.

The present example closely relates to an early seventeenth century Sinhalese carved ivory box in the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. no.38-1868) and another in the Staatliche Museum fur Asiatische Kunst, Berlin (inv.MIK I 383). Further comparable Sinhalese iconography is seen on a carved ivory box in the Archaeology Museum, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and another at Brodick Castle, Isle of Arran (see Jaffer 2002, p.53, no.19). 

A comparable Sri Lankan carved ivory box with gilt mounts dated to 16th/17th century sold in these rooms, 25 October 2017, lot 179.