Material: Silver
Style: Vietnam
Size: Diameter  5.5 cm; Chain: Length 12 cm
Order Number: MHSACSOB1

The Tai Deng people (Red Tai, named after the predominant colour of their exquisitely woven ceremonial costumes) lived in the western Lang Chanh district of Than Hoa province near the Laos  border in north-central Vietnam.

This sliding, heart-shaped, silver box was used to keep tobacco, lime and cosmetics decorated with repoussage and engraving. It may also have been used to keep an opium block for travelling. Opium blocks were small and could ooze in warm weather, so a tight box was required with a  good fitting lid. Opium had to be kept air-tight also.

It is a chatelaine, worn around the waist by Vietnamese women. A chatelaine is a hook, often worn at the waist, with a chain suspended from it to hold useful items, such as a pocket watch for the wealthy, keys or in this case tobacco, lime and cosmetics (or possibly opium) by Tai Deng women.

There are similar examples in The Jewelry of Southeast Asia, Ann Richter, Thames & Hudson, 2000, page 133.

Early 20th century.

Chatelaine worn by a European lady.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Vietnamese Chatelaine 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Silver
Style: Vietnam
Size: Height 10 cm, Width 8.5 cm
Order Number: MHSALVBLH1

The basic ingredients of a betel quid are betel leaf, areca nut and lime powder. Gambir and tobacco may be added  to make it more fragrant.

The containers and implements included boxes of various shapes and sizes to store the betel nuts,  betel leaf holders for the already prepared betel quid, lime containers, hinged cutters, similar to scissors, to cut the hard areca nut, knives to cut the softer nuts, pounders to crush the nut, salve boxes to hold beeswax for the lips, spittoons, tobacco pouches and trays on which they all were displayed.

Betel leaf holders contained the already prepared betel quid, which was rolled in the leaf before being chewed.

In Vietnam, Laos and Northern Thailand silver betel leaf holders were normally triangular, usually decorated in repoussé, especially with concentric circles, floral motifs and whorls, but sometimes they were plain. They are in a flattened horn-like shape. The small base is usually a perforated, hexagonal base, often with a silver mark.

Early 20th century.

There are 2 similar Vietnamese examples in The Musée de l’Homme in Paris, featured in the Catalogue: Le Bétel by Solange Thierry on page 285.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Vietnamese Triangular Betel Leaf Holder appeared first on Murni's in Bali.