This box is shaped like a book. It would have been used to hold a bible, and is thicker at the front than at the back to emulate the form of a leather-bound book. Delicately carved vegetal motifs cover the top of the box, characteristic of carved ebony from Sri Lanka and 18th century carving from Batavia. The spine is gadrooned and the front corners are edged with gold fretwork mounts. A diamond-shaped key-plate and trefoil key can be used to lock the box.Bible boxes were made and used widely in the Dutch settlements of south India, Sri Lanka, and the East Indies. But examples in ivory with gold mounts are rare - they were usually made of ebony or calamander, sometimes with silver mounts
