Indian Wood Tikka Box

Short, stout lidded pot with a little pointed hat and no desire to talk.

This painted wooden tikka box from Maharashtra is from Maharashtra, India, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is painted wood. A tikka is the mark worn on the forehead in many Hindu communities, and boxes were made to hold the powders and pastes used to apply it. Compact cylinder with a rounded cap and a conical finial. A faint horizontal band runs across the body, and the nearly black surface has dry red traces at the seam. It is 4.25 inches high and 2.5 in diameter.

Minimal, a bit dusty, and perfectly self-contained.