Lacquer wood box, 'Royal Heritage Cat' Home Decor Home Accessories Decorative Boxes 
Playful and
coquettish, this cat personifies the most exclusive of felines, Thailand's
Korat, or Si-Sawat cat, reserved only for royals and high-ranking
officials. This cat of natural race has been bred in
the royal cattery of Korat province since 1350. The earliest
known record of the Korat appears in "The Cat-Book of
Poems" edited between 1350 and 1767. This book presents Thailand's
seventeen good luck cats, and is presently found at Bangkok's
National Library. According to this book, "the Korat has a
body color like the dok lao (a plant similar to
lemongrass, but with silver-tipped flowers). The hairs are smooth, with
roots like clouds and tips like silver; the eyes shine
like dewdrops on a lotus leaf." Locally, the cat is
known as Si-Sawat, (Happiness). By tradition, a Korat cat is
given to a young royal couple on their wedding day
as a symbol of happiness and long lasting marriage. Nantana
Sompamitre replicates the cat's elegance as she carves this unique
jewelry box of mango wood. Painted with acrylics, the piece
receives several coats of lacquer, which Sompamitre prepares from the
Gluta usitata tree and ashes of burnt rice paddy husks.
As each is individually handmade, please expect a slight variation
in size and color.
Price: $22.95 |
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