Antique Hand Painted Indian Wedding Chest Wood Dowry Box

This beautiful, brightly colored box features hand painted images of birds, a horse, elephant, leopard, and deer alongside colorful floral motif borders on all four sides of the wood box base and square domed top section. We understand the paintings are done on cloth secured to the handmade wood box with a layer of lacquer applied at the end. 
 
The Indian Virtual Museum of Images & Sounds (vmis.in) describes these as ‘pedis’ created by ‘chitrakaras’ (hereditary artists known for traditional painting and craftsmanship in Nepal and the Indian state of Odisha) to store dowry items. They are often made of gambhari wood. Others online claim these are a style used in Kashmir regions of India. There are very few available for sale online, and fewer yet with informed descriptions…
 
If, as we believe, this box was purchased in India by our grandmother or the Burr sisters on their 1934-1935 world tour, the box is in very good condition. There is minimal wear and tear on the edges and top. The canvas has only a few strands peeling off on one bottom edge. The interior is largely clean, any stain showing in photos actually sloppily applied lacquer within. There are two cracks in the base of the box however as shown in the photo of the base of this box.
 
H 7 1/4” x L 5 1/2” x D 5 1/2”
 
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know.