λ An early 18th century Anglo-Indian rosewood writing box, inlaid with ivory flowers and leaves boldly engraved and highlighted with lac, the hinged lid centred with a floral interpretation of the Tree of Life, with leaves and flowers issuing from a nautilus shell, with wide borders of conforming scrolling foliage, revealing a divided interior with secret drawers, with an iron side carrying handle and escutcheon, Vizagapatam, c.1730, 11.8cm high, 53.4cm wide, 39.5cm deep. Provenance: A handwritten note in the box states 'Mother's Indian Box from Lady Lyttleton given 1957' and 'Apphia, Lady Lyttelton by descent to Mrs G. Woodroffe to her daughter Mrs M. J. Neville (1957) by descent'. Antigone Clarke & Joseph O'Kelly, Antique Boxes, Tea Caddies & Society, 1700-1880, 2nd Edition, p.187, fig. 262. Apphia, Lady Lyttelton, née Witts (1743-1840) was born on the 27th April to a prosperous Oxfordshire family. After the death of her parents she set sail to India, arriving in Calcutta in 1769 where she was set to marry her cousin, Richard Witts. However, he had died six months before she left England. More tragedy struck when her first husband, Colonel Joseph Peach, of the 1st Bengal Regiment, died within six months of their marriage. In 1773 she married Thomas Lyttelton, 2nd Baron Lyttelton. See 'Apphia, Lady Lyttelton: From the Cotswolds to Malvern by Way of India 1743-1840' by Christine Bannister. See Furniture from British India and Ceylon by Amin Jaffer, p.188, no.39. for a closely related box. Also Christie's, Le Gout Steinitz, III, 6th December 2007 for a very similar box, with an identical central panel. Work-boxes such as these were used by the English expatriates in India and were naturally used by the merchants of the East India Company. The densely scrolling foliage borders inlaid in ivory are typical of the manufactures of Vizagapatam, on the eastern Coromandel Coast of India.