Lot 397
397
AN ANGLO-INDIAN ENGRAVED IVORY INLAID ROSEWOOD WORK-BOX
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
AN ANGLO-INDIAN ENGRAVED IVORY INLAID ROSEWOOD WORK-BOX

VIZAGAPATAM, MID-18TH CENTURY

Details
AN ANGLO-INDIAN ENGRAVED IVORY INLAID ROSEWOOD WORK-BOX
VIZAGAPATAM, MID-18TH CENTURY
The rectangular hinged top centred with a large floral and foliate spray issuing from a stylised shell, and surrounded by scrolling foliate and floral trailing border within two thin ribbon-engraved framing borders, the interior fitted with variously shaped pen trays and other compartments, above three long drawers and a small secret drawer, the front with silvered shaped (later) escutcheons, and with conforming floral trailing motifs to the angles, the sides with handles, on a moulded small plinth
4¾ in. (12 cm.) high; 21 in. (53.5 cm) wide; 15¼ in. (39 cm.) deep
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A closely related work-box or casket is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and illustrated in A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, p. 188, no. 39. Work-boxes such as these were used by the English expatriates in India and were naturally used by the merchants of the East India Company. The densely scrolling foliage borders inlaid in ivory are typical of the manufactures of Vizagapatam, on the eastern Coromandel Coast of India.

More from Le Goût Steinitz, III

View All
View All