This box is made of coromandel wood, with silver engraved mountings.
A Bible was kept in this box. The box was also meant as a status symbol, to show your wealth on the way to church.
Colonial, Sri Lanka, 18th century.
Literature:
Uit verre landen, Guus Röell, June 2014.
Furniture from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India during the Dutch period, Jan Veenendaal, page 86, plate 83.
See also added the newspaper clipping from 1985, on which a similar box is depicted.
