An unusual enamelled silver-gilt box with moving erotic interior
Lucknow or Hyderabad, 18th Century
the box of rectangular form with hinged lid on a splayed foot with stepped band below the lid, decorated in green, blue and turquoise enamel with floral motifs, the lid opening to reveal a miniature painting of a mother and her child with applied painted bone moving elements behind a glass panel, small lever to lid which animates the scene when pulled
8 x 6 x 4 cm.; 181g.
Footnotes:
Provenance
Christie's, Arts of India, 24 September 2003, lot 118.

The miniature in the interior depicts a reclining lady with her child in her arms and a cloud with angels above. When the lever on the lid is pulled, the lady raises her child, revealing her nudity, while a man emerges from the cloud and descends towards her.