MID-19TH CENTURY, PROBABLY GALLE DISTRICT, CEYLON

Details

AN ANGLO-INDIAN SOLID-EBONY CANED OPEN ARMCHAIR
Mid-19th Century, probably Galle District, Ceylon
The foliate-carved curved tablet toprail centred by a pierced shell with two bird's heads, between leaf-carved uprights and curved arms with scrolled-foliate supports, above a seatrail carved with foliage and centred by two bird's heads, on leaf-carved shaped legs with claw-and-ball feet, the reeded back legs on brass caps and castors
41 in. (106 cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This chair is typical of ebony furniture produced in the Galle District of Ceylon in the mid-19th Century. H.C. Sirr in his account of Ceylon published in 1850, noted how in Colombo there was available 'the most exquisitely carved ebony furniture conceivable' (quoted in A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, p. 378). This form of elaborately-carved chair was made over a long period of time, their design being influenced by English chairs of the early 19th Century. This chair is particularly unusual in its use of the peacock heads in the toprail and apron.
A related chair was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 12 February 1998, lot 446 and another is in the Peabody Essex Museum (ibid., cat. no. 186, p. 378).

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