Box
Category
Wooden objects
Date
c. 1720
Materials
Ebony, padouk, ivory, metal.
Measurements
10.5 x 30.7 x 21.8 cm
Place of origin
Vizagapatam
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 872520
Summary
An ebony, padouk and ivory box, Visakhapatnam (Vizagapatam), India, early 18th century. Inlaid throughout with engraved ivory flowers and tendrils of leaves and with moulded edges of ebony and ivory. The hinged cover also inlaid with a coat of arms and crest within a circle, and inlaid to its underside with sprays of flowers in vases. The interior fitted with a counter compartment with divisions, with a small drawer below. Decorative metal escutcheon and hinges.
Full description
This rare table was made in the city of Visakhapatnam (Vizagapatam) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, a natural harbour with a thriving textile industry and a cabinet-making tradition renowned for its use of ivory inlay and veneers. A centre for European trading activity from the 17th century, Visakhapatnam was ruled successively by the Mughal Qutb Shahis (between 1689 and 1724), Nizam (1724–1757) and France (from 1757), before being captured by the British East India Company armies in 1765. This colonial encroachment in India, stirred a transfer of materials, techniques, knowledge and fashions which, rather like in Guangzhou (see Chinese Export furniture at Osterley, NT 771891, 773356 and 773362) and other trading ports, stimulated an export market in furniture and objects specifically for European buyers. This box is decorated in a characteristically Indian style, and with Indian flora, but bears a currently unidentified European coat of arms and crest.
Provenance
Acquired by Lady Emily Katherine Parker (1846-1910), sister of the 3rd Earl of Morley, as a gift from her Grandmother, the Dowager 2nd Countess of Morley in 1885 and by descent to Montagu Brownlow Parker (1879-1962), 5th Earl of Morley as part of the endowment to NT in 1963.