This box and stand with silver liner was almost certainly made in Purnea, in the modern state of Bihar, India, in the 18th century. It belongs to a class of metalwork known as "bidri", which takes its name from the city of Bidar in present-day Karnataka where the technique is thought to have originated. This describes objects made from a high-zinc alloy and inlaid with silver or brass, or a combination of both, or overlaid with patterns of silver or brass wire hammered on to a cross-hatched ground. When the surface ornamentation is completed, the craftsman covers the object with a mud paste contining salt, ammonium chloride and unrefined potassium nitrate. When the paste is removed, the natural dull grey of the zinc alloy has changed colour to a deep, matt black which enhances, without altering, the brightness of the inlay. The earliest pieces of bidri date from the early 17th century, when production is thought to have been only in centres such as Bidar and Hyderadabad in the Deccan sultanates. From there it spread to eastern India in the 18th century.
The box would have been intended for pan (pronounced paan) and therefore called a pan dan (ie box for pan). "Pan" is a mixture of chopped areca nuts and aromatic spices wrapped in a leaf from the piper betel tree, and chewed after meals. Traditionally, it also played an important role in the ceremonial attached to visiting in the higher levels of Indian society. The pan dan contained all the ingredients, and its appearance would have allowed the host to indicate that the visit had come to an end.
The pan dan was bought in 1972 from Major W.R.P. Downing who stated that it had been "with the Palmer Downing family in Calcutta and Purnea in Behar, India, for over 200 years". They were one of the leading British banking families in India in the 18th century.