17th cent box Vermeer painting

Just saw this in The Art Newspaper: An object depicted in a Vermeer painting has been found to represent a rare Indian jewellery casket, throwing fresh light on the artist’s mysterious pictures.
This article describes the 17th century Indo-Portuguese casket made in the port of Cochin (now Kochi) in southern India.
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/202...box-vermeer-paintings-artist-connections-book

Here's a collection of Indo Portuguese antiques on 1st Dibs,beautiful stuff, which I probably won't be owning soon.
https://www.1stdibs.com/buy/indo-portuguese/

 

It is a beautiful box, but it's presence on a 1666 Dutch painting is not as unusual as it seems.
In 1663 the VOC (Dutch East India Company) conquered Kochi, so at the time Vermeer painted the painting Kochi was a Dutch colony. Prosperous Dutch were always looking for the next novelty from the East.
The colonies of the VOC ranged from South Africa in the west to Taiwan in the east. Many of the colonies were dotted along the coasts of India, Kochi being one of them.

The issue of Vermeer having a valuable item at his disposal is another thing.
It could have been a loan from a wealthy patron, as suggested. Also, Vermeer's mother-in-law owned several properties and businesses. She had money and supported her daughter's family (with Vermeer) financially. Vermeer also worked for her, but wasn't a good business man himself.
So the box could have belonged to his MIL.