Object Type
Addresses, or declarations of loyalty, made by subjects of Queen Victoria, who was Empress of India, were often presented in caskets. However, the receptacle could be of almost any form, including articulated fish or architectural monuments. This writing box is unusual in being functional as well as ornamental. The casket contains a hand-written address relating the donor's intention to build a bridge over the river Kali Nandi at Sidpur, as well as an explanatory key to the 39 miniatures mounted onto the casket.

Places
The box was presented by the Rais, or nobleman, of Chhatari, a town formerly in the Bulandshahr District of the United Provinces on the Indian subcontinent. After 1856 it was administered by the British but still belonged to an estate owned by the Rais of the Chhatardhari clan of Mewatis, after whom it was named.

Subjects Depicted
The ivory box is set with ivory miniatures framed with silver, and has silver corner pieces and mounts. The miniatures all depict famous Mughal monuments, details of Delhi, India, such as the Clock Tower in Chandni Chowk, or monuments of the Muslim world outside the Mughal empire. Miniatures of this kind were a speciality of Delhi artists in the 19th century. The full list of places and monuments depicted is as follows: Imambara, Lucknow; Selimgarh, Delhi;interior of the tomb of Shah Zaman; Makbara, Agra; shrine and place of pilgrimage, Iran; Akbari Gate, Agra Fort; interior of a tomb; the Summan Burj, Red Fort, Delhi; Makbara, Hussainabad, Lucknow; Roshan-ud-Daula Mosque, Delhi; Clock tower, Chandni Chauk, Delhi; the Diwan-i Am, Delhi; interior of the Jami Masjid, Delhi; Kaaba Sharif, Mecca; Medina Sharif; the Moti Mahal, Delhi; the Qutb Minar, Delhi; the Diwan-i Khas, Delhi; Mausoleum of Itimad ud-Daula, Agra; Mausoleum of Safdar Jang, Delhi; Tomb of Nizam du-Din Aulia, Delhi; Dargah, Agra; Anderum Makbara, Mirza Sultan Hazrat; Makbara Sher Fateh; Naksha Dargah, Ajmer; Mausoleum of Humayum, Delhi; the Taj Mahal, Agra; interior of the Diwan-i Khas, Delhi; interior of the Hamman (Royal Baths), Delhi, Meshed, Iran; Jami Masjid, Delhi; Basra; Kerbala Mualla, Iran; Gate of the Fort, Delhi; saint's shrine, Iran; interior of the Diwan-i Am, Delhi; the Peacock Throne, Delhi; interior of the Jami Masjid, Delhi.

Historical Associations
The Rais of Chhatari presented the box to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 1887. It has been on loan to the V&A from the Royal Collection since 1926. There is a related casket at Osborne House, Queen Victoria's residence on the Isle of Wight. It is made of solid ivory mounted with miniatures and ornamented with gilded designs and inscriptions. It was presented to Queen Victoria by the Nawab of Rampur.