Tuareg Tooled Leather Box

A patterned lid with a quarter-circle panel full of leaves and a tiny diamond.

This tooled leather and wood box is Tuareg, from Mali, West Africa, and is contemporary. Leather has long been central to Tuareg life as a material for tents, saddles and containers, because it is light, strong and suited to travel. Rectangular dark red box top with a deep herringbone frame. One corner holds a quarter-round recessed panel stamped with leaves, and a vertical strip of oval motifs runs alongside. Surface is warm and slightly burnished. It is 7.25 inches wide, 5 deep and 2.25 high.

Crammed with pattern and not a bit sorry.