A fine pair of Korean iron box with intricate silver inlays dated to the late Joseon Dynasty circa 19th century. The matching circular boxes was most likely used to store tobacco leaves. Their surface was beautifully decorated with elaborate silver inlay that covers the entire exterior except the base. The cover lid is centered with an inlaid archaic form of "Sou" (longevity). The character is of gilt silver and surrounded by three decorative bands of scrolling and cloud motifs. The exterior wall was decorated in quadruple space with a deer, a crane, and two floral designs that appears to be peony and lotus, also in the contrasting gilt color. Both the deer and crane were symbols associated with longevity. They were also surround by similar decorative band motif and the space in between was filled with coin designs.
Tobacco was introduced to Korean in the first half of the 17th century and gradually gained popularity. When the tobacco was started being smoked in shredded form instead of rolled leaves, there rose the production of the smoking accessories, with some in fine quality as luxury items for the elite. The accoutrement such as this box is a fine example made in late Joseon dynasty, using extensive silver inlay, a technique called "jjoeum-ipsa", in which the silver wires were hammered into the scorched iron surface to create the elaborate design.
Similar boxes with variation of shape and motifs are in the collection of several major museums: Gu 754 in the National Museum of Korea; item 22.78 in MET NYC and M.240:1, 2-1926 in V& A Museum in London. The most closely related example we found is item C232 in the collection of the Museum of East Asian Art, Cologne. However, it is not common to come across a matching pair in this circular shape.

2.9"dia x 2" h.