GUJARAT OR SINDH, 17TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE IVORY INLAID CABINET
GUJARAT OR SINDH, 17TH CENTURY
Of rectangular form resting on turned ivory feet, with 12 drawers with locks and two curved metal handles on either side, each end with ivory inlaid scrolling arabesque pattern,the front with four rows of four drawers, each with scrolling arabesque design and ivory and ebony checkered borders, sixteen pairs of small diagonally faceted knobs, top with ivory inlay border and empty cartouche, in good condition with slight warping to surface of wood on top side.
33¼ x 17½ x 15½in. (84.5 x 44.5 x 39.5cm.)

Special notice

This lot will be sold under the Alpha scheme. If you are an EU Purchaser, there is effectively no change: VAT is charged at 20% on the buyer's premium ONLY on a VAT inclusive basis. VAT is accounted for under the auctioneer's margin scheme. If you are a non-EU Purchaser: VAT, at 20%, will be payable on both the hammer price and the buyer's premium. VAT on the hammer will be refunded upon receipt of export documentation by the VAT department. Non-EU trading businesses can receive a further VAT refund on the buyer's premium directly from HM Revenue and Customs.

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Lot Essay

The majority of these cabinets were formerly attributed to Goa. A comparable cabinet dated to the 17th Century was originally housed in the Viceroy's Palace in Goa, and is now in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, in Lisbon, inv. 1312, (J. Flores and N. Vassallo e Silva, Goa and the Great Mughal, London, 2004, p. 69). More recent scholarship points to contemporary accounts from European travellers to India. According to the Dutch merchant Francisco Pelsaerts, Tatta, Sindh, was in 1626 a centre of manufacture for 'ornamental desks, writing cases [...] very prettily inlaid with ivory and ebony' and Surat, Gujarat, according to James Ovington was a source of 'Desks, Sutores and Boxes neatly polisht and embellisht' in the late 1680's (Amin Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India, London, 2002, p. 18.) Goa often served as a gateway for luxury Indian goods destined for the European market.

The side panels on our cabinet in particular are wonderful examples of very fine interlaced heart-shaped scrolling palmettes. A closely comparable cabinet with similar decoration on the side panels was offered at Sotheby's (8 October 2008, lot 187).

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