SMALL RECTANGULAR "THEWA" BOX The hinged lid is adorned with a red glass plate decorated in the "thewa" technique with an antelope hunting scene. Three hunters on elephants shoot at a lion attacking an antelope, while storks and cranes stand among the water lilies in the stream below. The sides are decorated with floral scrolls between chevrons on a midnight-blue background, the interior with vermeil. Pratabgarh, Rajasthan, late 19th century. A "THEWA" RECTANGULAR BOX AND COVER, INDIA, PRATABGARH, LATE 19TH CENTURY. DIM. 2,5 X 8,8 X 5,9 CM (1 X 3 7/16 X 2 5/16 IN.) NOTE "Thewa" simply means "frame" in Rajasthani Hindi. The technique involves applying a delicately cut and engraved leaf and fusing it under heat to the transparent coloured glass beneath, then mounting it in a vermeil frame. The ancient city of Pratabgarh, near Udaïpur, was the birthplace of this unique enamel application technique. These luxury objects were highly prized by visiting Europeans in the 19th century. References - Henrietta Sharp Cockrell, in "Thewa work of Pratapgarh (Partabgarh)", a discussion of thewa objects in the Khalili collection in Pedro Moura Carvalho, Gems and Jewels of Mughal India: The Nasser D. Khaili Collection of Islamic Art , vol. XVIII, pp. 272-283, cat. nos. 156-163. - Oppi Untracht, Traditional Jewelry of India , 1997, pp. 300-303.