FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

This table is typical of the carved ebony furniture, manufactured on the island of Ceylon/Sri Lanka throughout the 19th Century. The form is based on English designs dating from the second quarter of the 19th Century (such as Thomas King's The Modern Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified, 1829). One of the striking features of this type of furniture is the diversity of the indigenous cabinet-making woods inlaid into the top. A related table was exhibited at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1855. It is described in the exhibition catalogue The Natural and Artificial Products of Ceylon, and lists the woods as Calamander, Ceylon Teak, Tamarind, Ironwood, Polcoconut, and Bastard Ebony among others (R. Jones, 'Nineteenth Century Carved Ebony Furniture from Sri Lanka', Regional Furniture, 1996, pp. 27-41).
A similar table, with a hexagonal top, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 7 July 1989, lot 144.