CEYLON OR EAST INDIA, LATE 19TH CENTURY EARLY 20TH CENTURY

This folding chair, with labelled specimen wood slats forming the seat, was probably made as a promotional item for a timber merchant. The variety of woods used implies Ceylonese or East Indian origin though in some cases vernacular spellings hinder accurate identification. Alexander L. Howard in Timbers of the World&i, London, 1934, lists Suriya mara, Sapan, Kumbuk, Kitua and Jackwood among others. Sapu is possibly a derivation of Sapuan, and Nandun possibly Nedun, a tree which Howard notes is limited in range to Ceylon.