Betel box

Cylindrical boxes with trays inside for holding the ingredients for betel chewing (betel vine leaf, the nut of the areca or betel palm, quicklime, and sometimes spices or tobacco) were among the most common lacquer objects in Burma. The body of this box is made of tightly woven bamboo strips, over which lacquer was applied and then smoothed, decorated, and polished.

The outside of this box is decorated with the twelve signs of the Burmese zodiac enclosed within the linked rectangle design associated with Mount Meru, the central mountain of the Buddhist cosmos. On the lid are the symbols of the eight planets and days of the week (Wednesday is divided into two).