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Details
- Other Title
- Box for betel nut utensils
- Cultural origin
- Old Imperial capital of Hue
- Period
- Nguyen dynasty 1802 - 1945 → Vietnam
- Date
- circa 1900
- Media category
- Lacquerware
- Materials used
- tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, lacquer, gesso, gold leaf, silver
- Dimensions
- 11.0 cm; 24.5 cm diam.
- Credit
- Goldie Sternberg Southeast Asian art purchase fund 1992
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 264.1992.a-c
- Copyright
- Share
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About
This box and its various compartments held all the implements and ingredients required for the hospitable gesture of preparing and offering the betel nut concoction popular in many Southeast Asian countries. The box is skilfully inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which has been expertly shaped to fully exploit the glowing tones of opalescent pink and blue-green that can be elicited from the shell by a careful artisan. The scene on the cover, as well as the floral sprays around the sides, are Chinese in taste, and the piece could well have been made for use within the imperial court at Hue, the 19th century capital of the last royal dynasty in Vietnam, the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945).
The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.304.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Great gifts, great patrons, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Aug 1994–19 Oct 1994
The connoisseur and the philanthropist: 30 years of the Sternberg Collection of Chinese Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 31 Jan 2014–27 Apr 2014
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Bibliography
Referenced in 4 publications
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Matt Cox, The Connoisseur and the Philanthropist: 30 years of the Sternberg Collection, "Southeast Asian Art", pg. 25-29, Sydney, 31 Jan 2014, 24, 26 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 24 is a detail of this work
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Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2003, 304-305 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 305 is a detail of this work.
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Ann Proctor, Bon Mau Co Ban - Four Colours., Analysis and discussion of selected works from AGNSW, 'Mother of Pearl Inlay-Vietnam', pg. 12-15, Sydney, Feb 2003, 12 (colour illus.), 13-15. section 4
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Bon Mau Co Ban - Four Colours. Vietnamese Art Case Study, Sydney, Feb 2003, not paginated (colour illus.). section 5
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