A highly important and rare 18th century Anglo-Indian teak and ebony bureau cabinet inlaid with engraved ivory circa 1740-1750, Vizagapatam

the molded ebony double-dome cornice inlaid with engraved ivory foliage above two conforming doors each inlaid with a vase containing a flowering tree, flanked at the base with two walking lions, opening to a fitted interior with a row of pigeon holes with engraved ivory arched tops above three small drawers inlaid with trailing foliage, above a central cupboard inlaid with a vase containing a flowering tree, opening to small ivory  inlaid drawers and flanked by ivory inlaid ebony columns, folio slides and pigeon holes, above a further arrangement of  small drawers, the insides of the doors inlaid with vases containing flowering trees, above a sloping fall inlaid with a vase issuing flowering branches with birds and animals, opening to an interior fitted with an arrangement of small drawers with concave fronts and pigeon holes, all inlaid or faced with engraved ivory trailing leaves, and centered by a cupboard door inlaid with flowering branches and flanked by inlaid ebony columns, the writing surface inlaid with sinuous flowering leafy tendrils, with an arrangement of three small, two short and three long drawers all inlaid with trailing branches with leaves and flowers, the ivory-inlaid ebony-molded base supported on flattened bun feet, the upper sides with a divided panel, the upper part with a flowering tree within a vase with birds and two monkeys below above a foliate and flower inlaid panel, the base with a flowering tree within an urn with birds and squirrels, and two lions at the base; retaining the original cut brass escutcheons with engraved double-headed birds and loop handles, the drawers inlaid with rosewood.

Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, Chicago, by whom donated to, The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, N. C., accession number G.56.5.1 a/b, by whom sold, Sotheby's, New York, October 16, 1993, lot 348

Mallett & Son, London

Acquired from the above, 1999

Mallett, P.L.C., London, Trade Catalogue, 1994, ill. pp. 15, 16

Lanto Synge, Mallett Millenium, 1999, p. 288, fig. 372

Amin Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, 2001, p. 184, fig. 83 ill.

The Magazine Antiques, February, 2001, ‘Ivory-inlaid and veneered furniture of Vizagapatam, India, 1700-1825’, Amin Jaffer, pp. 342-349, p. 349 ill

Only a small number of bureau cabinets of this form, which are closely related to contemporary English and Dutch examples, are recorded. Amin Jaffer illustrates five, including the present cabinet, in Furniture from British India and Ceylon. The earliest seems to be one acquired by Sir Matthew Decker, a Dutch-born merchant who was a Director of the East India Company from 1713 to 1743. Although its profile closely parallels the present and other recorded cabinets, its decorative ivory inlay is far more spare, being confined to the narrow bands of ebony framing the doors and drawers. Another which can be reasonably dated is one at Englefield House, Berkshire, which was brought to England by Richard Benyon, Governor of Fort George from 1734 to 1744.

Jaffer also illustrates (fig. 82) one at Ananda Ranga Pillai House, Pondicherry, which has a shaped cornice of Dutch character, the present example being closer in design to one at Raynham Hall, Norfolk (Jaffer, op. cit., fig. 84). Jaffer also records other examples including a pair in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston and one sold at Christie’s in 1976.

See:

Mildred Archer et al, Treasures from India, The Clive Collection at Powis Castle, 1987

Christie’s, New York, October 17, 1997, lot 548