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Lot Essay
IMPORTANT NOTICE ON LOTS CONTAINING IVORY:
The USA has recently changed its policy on the import of property containing elephant ivory. Only Asian Elephant ivory may be imported into the USA, and imports must be accompanied by DNA analysis and confirmation the object is more than 100 years old. Buyers will be responsible for the costs of obtaining any DNA analysis or other report required in connection with their proposed import into the USA. A buyer’s inability to export or import a lot is not a basis for cancelling their purchase.
This unusual chest displays the blend of East and West seen in Colonial furniture and is typical of the work from the former Portuguese colony of Goa. The attribution to Goa is based on the existence of purpose-built church furniture closely related in style which exists in the Sacristy of the Bom Jesus in Old Goa, likely to have been installed some time between 1654 and 1698. The pattern of intersecting circles that covers the surface of this chest is almost identical to a Contador or cabinet on stand in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. 781 - 1865) and illustrated in Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London, 2002, no. 21, pp. 56-57. Interestingly, the author notes that the decorative metal rivets on the atlantes (male versions of caryatids) of that piece were removed before it entered the museum's colleection in 1865.
The USA has recently changed its policy on the import of property containing elephant ivory. Only Asian Elephant ivory may be imported into the USA, and imports must be accompanied by DNA analysis and confirmation the object is more than 100 years old. Buyers will be responsible for the costs of obtaining any DNA analysis or other report required in connection with their proposed import into the USA. A buyer’s inability to export or import a lot is not a basis for cancelling their purchase.
This unusual chest displays the blend of East and West seen in Colonial furniture and is typical of the work from the former Portuguese colony of Goa. The attribution to Goa is based on the existence of purpose-built church furniture closely related in style which exists in the Sacristy of the Bom Jesus in Old Goa, likely to have been installed some time between 1654 and 1698. The pattern of intersecting circles that covers the surface of this chest is almost identical to a Contador or cabinet on stand in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. 781 - 1865) and illustrated in Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London, 2002, no. 21, pp. 56-57. Interestingly, the author notes that the decorative metal rivets on the atlantes (male versions of caryatids) of that piece were removed before it entered the museum's colleection in 1865.