Tuareg Circular Lidded Leather Box with Incised Design

Red box wearing a crown of carved scallops around its lid.

This circular lidded leather box with an incised design is Tuareg, from West or North Africa, and is contemporary. It is leather & wood. Leather stretched over a wooden form makes a light but durable container, a technique suited to people who travel across wide desert regions. Bright red round container whose rim is cut into a ring of pointed, wavy lobes. A square raised panel on top bears a tooled four-lobed motif and a fine border. Rich lacquer-like color with small surface nicks. It is 2.25 inches high and 4.25 in diameter.

Cut like a pie crust by an ambitious hand.