PROBABLY GALLE DISTRICT, CEYLON, CIRCA 1850

This chair is typical of ebony furniture produced in the Galle District of Ceylon in the mid-19th Century. H.C. Sirr in his account of Ceylon published in 1850, noted how in Colombo there was available 'the most exquisitely carved ebony furniture conceivable' (A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, p. 378). This form of elaborately-carved chair was made over a long period of time, their design being influenced by English chairs of the early 19th Century. A related chair was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 12 February 1998, lot 446 and another is in the Peabody Essex Museum (ibid., cat. no. 186, p. 378).