A SRI LANKAN COROMANDEL WOOD CABINET ON STAND

 

Second half 18th century

 

On four lion-claw feet, the stretchers scrolling, with a central finial, the cabinet with oblique sides and sculpted hood.

 

H. 216 x W. 142 x D. 65 cm

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Note:

Ceylon (Sri Lanka) had a wealth of attractive and durable timbers used extensively
in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. These included calamander, ebony, satinwood, rosewood and nedun. That may be one of the reasons why furniture-making reached such a high level of craftsmanship in Sri Lanka under Dutch influence in the late 17th and 18th centuries and continued well into the 19th century under the British.

This is an exceptional example of Dutch-Ceylonese craftsmanship displaying the unusual figuring of the calamander wood to its full beauty.