CIRCA 1830

This table is typical of the carved ebony furniture manufactured on the island of Ceylon/Sri Lanka throughout the nineteenth century. While the form of these tables is based on English designs dating to the second quarter of the nineteenth century (such as Thomas King's The Modern Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified of 1829), the carved ornament is derived from local traditions. These tables were made for the British colonists in Ceylon and India as well as for export to England. A number of tables similarly inlaid with exotic woods are known including one formerly at the Royal Commonwealth Society with a presentation plaque dated to 1836, and another which was on view at the Ceylon Court of the Paris Exhibition of 1855. Other examples are illustrated in R. Iones, 'Nineteenth Century Carved Ebony Furniture', Regional Furniture, 1996. A similar example inlaid with a coat-of-arms was sold in these Rooms, 30 April 1997, lot 175.