AN INDO-PORTUGUESE IVORY-INLAID WOODEN CHEST

Chests of this form were made in India already at the beginning of the 17th century, as shown by a mother-of-pearl inlaid example from Gujarat in the David Collection (Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbaek and Peder Mortensen (eds.), Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal, exhibition catalogue, Copenhagen, 1996, no.308, p.335). The present example however appears to have been converted to this form and was probably originally made as a fall-front chest containing drawers. A smaller fall-front chest of very similar decoration was sold at Christie's King Street, 4 April 2006, lot 204.