Indian Wood Tikka Box

Small and compact, with a high pointed knob like a tiny steeple.

This carved and painted tikka box is from Maharashtra, India, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is carved wood & pigment. Wood carving has a long history in western India, and craftsmen there decorate small boxes with geometric patterns, flowers and figures, sometimes adding colour with pigment. Short, dark lidded jar with a high domed lid and a sharp conical knob. The body is a straight-sided cylinder with a fine crackle in the finish near the base. The color is black-brown with a glossy lid. It is 4 inches high and 2.5 in diameter.

Compact and pointy, with a lid that means it.