Question about a betel nut set
In the course of time, various stories have appeared on this blog about chewing the betel nut. At an auction in the Netherlands I very recently came across a three-piece Burmese silver betel nut set. In my opinion, it must have belonged to a very wealthy person.
On March 30, 2019, I published a story about the dangers of chewing the betel nut. See link below.
The following 2 responses followed, among others:
Chewing betel was also very popular in noble circles. King Chulalongkorn loved it and always had to whiten his teeth before traveling to Europe. Back then, betel was like drinking coffee with us: "Will you come and chew some betel with me later?"
Thanks for another article about betel. But not only in the countryside; as late as the 19th century, the people at court and the upper bourgeoisie also chewed on this stuff.
There are gold and silver betel sets in the museums that were not for, excusez le mot, 'the common people'. Priceless to them. The hotemetots kept servants who carried the betel box and in places where one could not deposit the phlegm on the ground it was stored in the spittoon….
To be honest, I was not aware of the existence of a betel set and certainly not of the existence of a silver and even gold version.
Looking at the set offered, I wonder how the three parts are used. Which of the readers can tell us more about that?
Wow, that's a fun question! I think the answer is difficult and can only be answered properly by a Thai who understands it. There are so many types of betel instruments in so many countries. I tried but couldn't find anything definitive.
กินหมากพลู อุปกรณ์ is the Thai term for betel instruments. Go look there. Then you also see nutcrackers and stuff.
กิน chin is food หมากmace is the areca nut พลู is the betel creeper and อุปกรณ์ means instrumentation.
I'm pretty sure the silver pouch on the left must contain the leaves of the betel creeper (perhaps with all the other ingredients already in it?). The large box at the top right is probably intended for the areca nut and the small box at the bottom right possibly for the other ingredients such as salt, pepper, tobacco and lime.
See here how the common people prepare the betel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaVFFUdNZuE
I'll keep looking.
Wouldn't one of the containers be a spittoon?
@Tino,
You were very close because it seems to be the other way around. The large box for the ingredients and the small one for the nut.
https://antiquebuddha.co.uk/interesting-items/two-silver-hand-made-burmese-betel-nut-boxes/
https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/archived_objects/burmese-shan-silver-betel-box-3/
https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/silver-dutch-colonial-betel-leaf-holder-batavia/
Couldn't that triangular object be a RASP to reduce the bone-hard nut to smaller particles?
According to my wife, the tray on the left is indeed for the leaves; the large container is for the nuts and the small container is for the beeswax (used for lips).
Still for sale, in the cheap and expensive version. (Shopee)
shorturl.at/cAJK8