Vintage Thai Red Lacquered Betel Box. Highly decorated red laquerware. Supported by 5 pea shaped ball feet, one missing. Fitted with an interior of lacquereware ceremonial trays.

Condition: One foot missing. 

Size: 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 2 in. 

Betel boxes are small, often elaborately worked containers used throughout South and Southeast Asia to hold the ingredients for betel chewing—typically areca nut, lime paste, and betel leaf, sometimes with clove or cardamom for perfume. In many regions, offering someone betel is a gesture of welcome or social warmth, so these boxes end up carrying a kind of hospitality made physical. The boxes themselves can be simple brass tins or wildly ornate lacquered, repoussé, or filigreed works that announce status and taste, depending on where and when they were made. They’re objects that travel easily between the everyday and the ceremonial; they sit on living room shelves, come out at weddings, and pass between hands in quiet conversation. The cultural practice still shifts from place to place, but the boxes remain as small sculptures of shared time.

All items are sold AS IS. Lot and condition details are for descriptive purposes only. Sarasota Estate Auction is not responsible for errors and/or omissions of condition. The absence of a condition report does not imply that the lot is perfect or free from wear, flaws, or characteristics of age. Please bid according to your own expertise, or request any additional information and/or photographs you deem necessary.