A writting cabinet

A writting cabinet
teak
ebony coated with scalloped ivory fillets in Islamic style, drawer fronts with marquetry of ebony and ivory “sadeli” micromosaic, gild copper applications
indo-portuguese, Mughal influence
16th/17th C.
small restoration
Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - 30,3 x 42 x 31,6 cm
Notes: a) This lot is subject to CITES export/import restrictions and is duly certified: nº 23PTLX12421C; b) It is currently prohibited by several countries to import goods that incorporate materials from protected wild fauna and flora species, including, among others, ivory, coral and turtle; c) In Portugal, in accordance with the planned transposition into national legislation of the most recent EU guidelines on ivory trade, the issuance of re-export certificates to countries that are not part of the EU is suspended; d) In this context, potential buyers are advised to inform themselves in advance about the legislation of their country and applicable international restrictions.



This refined fall-front writing cabinet was likely made in Sind, in present-day Pakistan, between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Made from teak (Tectona grandis), the cabinet is veneered in ebony (Diospyros ebenum) and lavishly decorated with ivory inlays and micro-mosaic (sadeli). Its gilt copper fittings include two side handles, drawer pulls (on the interior drawers) in the shape of rosettes, and two lock plates - one on the fall-front and the other on the larger central drawer. Both lock plates are
in the form of a double-headed eagle or gandabherunda, a mythological Hindu bird believed to possess magical strength, warding off evil and safeguarding its precious contents. The exterior sides are decorated with a carpet-like design, featuring polylobate central cartouches filled with vegetal motifs, bordered by simple ivory fillets. The interior of the fall-front displays a border of meandering scrolls with comma- shaped leaves and a central lozenge in sadeli, set against a ground of similar scrolls with circular
medallions in the corners, each containing twelve-pointed stars in multicoloured sadeli. When opened, the cabinet reveals six drawers, styled to mimic nine, all decorated in the same elaborate style and arranged in three tiers. Each drawer front features two circular medallions with twelve-pointed stars in sadeli, set over a geometric contrasting design and bordered by small sadeli circles.
This writing cabinet exemplifies the refined taste of the Portuguese clientele who commissioned it, blending Western furniture forms with intricate local decorative techniques and luxurious materials. Based on furniture types, preferred materials, and Iranian-derived decorative techniques such as the time-intensive sadeli, this elegant and austere production has recently been attributed to Thatta in Sind (present-day Pakistan), contrasting with export furniture from Gujarat.

1 - Cabinets of this type and decoration are rare; one notable example (35.5 x 45.0 x 30.0 cm), also made in Sind, is held in the the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. 317-1866).
2 - The decoration of the fall-front interiors in both examples - the museum’s and ours - are identical.


Bibliography:
CRESPO, Hugo Miguel - "A Índia em Portugal. Um Tempo de Confluências Artísticas. India in Portugal. A
Time of Artistic Confluence" (cat.). Porto: Bluebook, 2021, pp. 76-88.
JAFFER, Amin - "Luxury Goods from India. The Art of the Cabinet-Maker". Londres: V&A Publications,
2002, p. 19.

Hugo Miguel Crespo, Novembro de 2024