Miniature Bureau-Cabinet

Gallery 329, Asian Art, third floor (Lahiri Gallery)

Main Building

Miniature Bureau-Cabinet

c. 1790

Artist/maker unknown, Indian, for export to the English market

This miniature bureau-cabinet, which combines a European form with both European- and Indian-style decoration, is typical of the made-for-export furniture produced in Vishakhapatnam, India, beginning in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. While many of the buildings depicted are generalized interpretations of European structures, some may represent specific buildings that Indian craftsmen copied from engravings in publications such as Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (The British Architect) (1715–25). The flowers in the borders likely derive from Indian textile designs.

Gallery 329, Asian Art, third floor (Lahiri Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

Miniature Bureau-Cabinet

Date:

c. 1790

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian, for export to the English market

Medium:

Engraved and stained ivory veneer

Dimensions:

Assembled: 31 3/4 × 24 1/2 × 11 1/2 inches (80.6 × 62.2 × 29.2 cm) Top Piece: 15 3/4 × 24 3/4 × 11 1/2 inches (40 × 62.9 × 29.2 cm) Bottom Piece: 16 × 24 1/2 × 7 1/4 inches (40.6 × 62.2 × 18.4 cm)

Classification:

Furniture/Furnishings

Credit Line:

The Henry P. McIlhenny Collection in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, 1986

Accession Number:

1986-26-314a--u

Geography:

Made in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia

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Gallery 329, Asian Art, third floor (Lahiri Gallery)

Main Building

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