BOMBAY, CIRCA 1880

Furniture produced in Bombay in the 19th century was typically of 'Blackwood' or Indian rosewood, and was richly carved with flowers and foliage, and starting in the 1850s, with animal motifs such as birds, lions and serpents. The inspiration for these later motifs was likely the European decorative vocabulary drawn from antiquity. 'Blackwood' furniture from Bombay was exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, among other international exhibitions, and by the end of the 19th century, the furniture was primarily produced for export. Similar pieces were included in an 1884 advertisement for Liberty's 'Art Furniture' (A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, pg. 332, fig. 132).