Vizagapatam Box 1720

Unknown artist

EbonyBoneWoodIvorySilver
12 ⨯ 19 ⨯ 12 cm
Currently unavailable via Gallerease

• About the artwork
  The rectangular ebony box is inlaid with finely carved ivory flowers and scrolling vines, engraved and highlighted with lacquer. The domed cover is decorated in the same fashion with a floral ivory border. The box stands on four ivory bun feet and has a silver key and lock.
  
  This box is an early example of Vizagapatam work. In the first half of the 18th century joiners of the Kamsali caste in Visakhapatnam in the Indian province of Andhra Pradesh started to combine their skills in inlaid ivory with western European cabinet-making techniques. The products were made to accommodate the western taste.
  
  Literature:
  A casket (V&A Accession Number 402-1854) with similar carved decoration of ivory inlaid with floral scrolls is illustrated in Amin Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, Timeless Books, New Delhi, 2001, p. 181, fig. 34
• About the artist

  It might happen that an artist or maker is unknown.

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  •“Attributed to ….” In their opinion probably a work by the artist, at least in part

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  •“Style of ….” or “Follower of ….” In their opinion a work executed in the artist’s style but not necessarily by a pupil; may be contemporary or nearly contemporary

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  •"With signature ….”, “With date ….”, “With inscription….” or “Bears signature/date/inscription” in their opinion the signature/ date/ inscription has been added by someone other than the artist