Product Description
Antique Cambodian Betel Box – Lion 1
Material: Silver
Style: Cambodia
Length 12 cm, Width 5 cm, Height 8 cm
Order Number: MHSABB7
Silver objects have been found in Cambodia dating back 500 years. The Royal capital was in Udong from the 15th to the 19th century. In 1866 King Norodom moved the capital to Phnom Penh. Some master gold and silversmiths moved from Udong with the court and occupied quarters not far from the Royal Palace. In the early 20th century there were also skilled silversmiths in Battambang.
There were early foreign accounts of silver in Cambodia. Chinese records of Kaing T’ai and Chu Ying (3 AD) said ‘gold and silver were used for making utensils and decorated … ‘
In the 13th century, Zhou Daguan, a Chinese emissary who lived almost a year in Angkor between 1296 and 1297, says ‘Cambodian silversmiths are experts in relief work.’ He went on to say, ‘Every person dining in the houses of nobles or rich people is given silver plates, and sometimes even gold ones … Then came other girls carrying gold and silver vessels from the palace and a whole galaxy of ornaments, of very special design, the uses of which were strange to me.’
Bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat, Bayon and Banteay Chhmar temples (12th century) depict people carrying richly decorated objects which look similar to silver pedestal-dishes produced by silversmiths in Koh Chen, Udong.
Zhou Daguan wrote, ‘No gold or silver is found in this country, to my knowledge, most in demand are Chinese gold and silver.’ In the 16th and 17th centuries, there were European traders and Portuguese advisers to the court. Portugal and Spanish traders imported silver from Mexico via the Philippines to Cambodia. In 1604 the Spanish priest Gabriel Quiroga de San Antonio mentioned the abundance of gold, silver and precious gems. A considerable amount of silver was imported to Southeast Asia from China and Japan.
There was surface silver mining in Bo Sup Trup in Cambodia since at least 1877 and underground mining from 1905 until 1911.
Thomas Wallace Knox, an Englishman who traveled throughout Southeast Asian countries in the late 19th century, mentioned precious objects that he saw in the house of the Siem Reap governor in 1871 after being entertained to dinner, ‘The Governor exhibited his gold betel boxes and other paraphernalia. He told us that all were made by a Cambodian goldsmith in Siemrap (sic) from the gold and silver coins of Hue, the capital of Annam, of entirely pure metal, and they certainly were very elegant in design and finish. We most admired the cigar case. The other articles were a large dish which contained the ‘kit’, a gold betel-leaf and lime holder; a small gold tobacco-box; a silver cup, with cigars and little silver box, made in the form of a fish, containing a perfumed ointment, used by the native noblemen to anoint their lips and nostrils.’
Silver repoussé boxes were made to contain lime, one of the ingredients for betel chewing, and cosmetics. They usually have animal and plant motifs. Betel chewing was a way of life among Asian kings, aristocrats and the common people, socially and ceremonially, such as at betrothals, weddings, Buddhist monk ordinations, death, and oaths of allegiance to the monarch, and the formation of a legal contract. Offering betel was a gesture of hospitality and most families kept a betel set in their home.
A betel set comprised a small tray with a tall rim, holding a betel leaf holder, boxes to keep the areca nut, cloves, tobacco and spices, a cutter to cut the fresh areca nut, a lime container, a spatula for the lime, a spittoon, and sometimes a small container for bees’ wax to smooth on the lips as balm. Older people wit no teeth smashed the areca nut in a cylindrical mortar and pestle, so that it could be sucked rather than chewed. Wealthy families’ sets were made of gold, silver or bronze, while poorer people had lacquerware or wood.
Silver animals, usually crouching, are often astrological and mythological creatures and birds. There were kneeling elephants with upturned trunks, reclining deer, chickens, turtles, quails, geese, tigers, rabbits and lions. Paired birds were symbols of fidelity and rabbits were symbols of fertility. There were also fruits, such as mangosteens, pumpkins, and clam shells. Uniquely Cambodian was the lime container in the shape of a gourd decorated with flowers.
The boxes were made in two parts with the cover being the top of the animal. The join is hardly visible and it looks like one piece.
Silver is expensive, so only rich and elites could afford a complete set of silver betel utensils. Gold sets were reserved for the King and the Royal Palace. Commoners used boxes of brass and copper. Pure silver is usually considered too soft and is alloyed with another metal, such as copper, to make it more durable. Sterling silver is 925 parts silver to 75 parts copper and it’s the copper that oxidises and tarnishes.
Silver animal boxes were given as wedding gifts and so were treated as family heirlooms. They were also given on special occasions, such as a graduation, promotion or anniversary. Some were kept on the family altar, for example, an elephant holding a lotus to contain candles or incense sticks.
In Cambodia, as well as Thailand, the year was symbolised by a particular animal from a list of 12, so if you were born in the year of the tiger, you may be given a present of a silver box in the shape of a tiger. The cycle begins with the Year of the Rat. It’s believed the classification came from the Middle East, adopted by India in the 2nd or 3rd millennium BC, going to China in the 1st century BC, from China to Vietnam and then Cambodia. The earliest Cambodian inscription mentioning the 12-year animal cycle was in 992 AD found in Angkhor Thom in the late 13th century. The animal year of one’s birth indicate a person’s personality and give a guide to good marriage partner, for example, a tiger and snake are not a good fit.
The astrological animals were the most popular silver boxes. Every one, apart from the dragon and rat are found in Cambodia. They are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
Before 1945 silver coins, mostly French Indo-Chinese ‘piastre de commerce’, which were minted from 1885 to 1928 and again from 1931, and Chinese sycee (silver ingot, which looked like a shoe) money were used as the raw material. Coins from China, Mexico, Japan and the United States were also used.
Silverwork takes great concentration and as long as 5 years to master. Boxes were made by hand. Moulds were not used. Sometimes one person formed the animal shape and another finished and polished it. Some pieces are easier to make than others. Deer are very difficult. Semi-precious stones or glass were occasionally added, for example, to augment the eyes or chest. Pieces were not normally signed.
When tobacco was introduced to Cambodia, people, especially city dwellers, abandoned betel-chewing and turned to cigarettes. In the early decades of the 20th century, the silver betel set as symbol of prestige was replaced by tobacco and cigar boxes. Only elderly people, mostly women, and usually in the countryside, continued to chew it.
His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia gave silver animals as diplomatic gifts in the 1950s and 1960s to foreign guests and to decorate State residences, including the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.
This is a lion or singha. The lion is not indigenous to Cambodia and is often fanciful. It was brought from the West, probably to ancient Cambodia from China. The lion symbolises royal power and wards off evil. It is full of energy. The mouth is usually open with grimacing lips. Its barrel chest is covered with a mane.
From 1914 – mid 20th century.
Please ask for the price (or make an offer).
