This lime container was used to store and carry slaked lime paste (chunam), a vital ingredient mixed with sliced areca nut and betel leaf for traditional betel chewing
Kandyan metalwork from 19th-century Sri Lanka, featuring traditional motifs rooted in Sinhalese art and Buddhist symbolism.
The attached chain secures a small spatula or spoon used to scoop the lime paste out safely without burning the fingers. The shape itself is widely believed by historians to have been influenced by 18th-century European pocket-watch cases introduced during colonial periods
19th-century Ceylonese craftmanship