Medicine box. Indonesia, XIX century.

Medicine box. Indonesia, XIX century.
Carved wood.
Condition: small scratches, patina of use consistent with its age and ethnographic nature.
Mounted on modern stand.
Measurements: 45 x 12 x 13 cm.

Indonesian medicine box, in carved wood, with an elongated and curved body and a front finish of anthropomorphic-zoomorphic character, close to the image of a fish or aquatic being. The piece presents an organic silhouette, in which the container acquires a sculptural dimension beyond its practical function.

The surface retains a carefully incised decoration of plant and floral motifs, which runs along the main body with great ornamental sense. Its closed and portable configuration suggests a function linked to the storage of medicinal substances, ritual preparations or elements of shamanic use, within a context where healing, protection and spirituality were closely related.

The woodwork, the dark patina and the expressiveness of the figurative finial give the piece a singular presence, halfway between functional object, ritual container and sculpture. Its design reveals the symbolic importance of traditional vessels in the cultures of the Indonesian archipelago.