AN ANGLO INDIAN COTTAGE SHAPED VORY WORKBOX

AN ANGLO INDIAN COTTAGE SHAPED VORY WORKBOX, VIZAGAPATAM, C1790-1800 veneered on sandalwood, he sides decorated in black lac with trellised windows and a continuous scene of horsemen and other figures, the reverse with a hunting party at rest and flanked by trees, the lid as the pitched roof with porcupine quills, central ivory chimney having divided interior, a drawer below, 24cm wideA very similar example acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum from Roger Warner in 1951 (for £8) is illustrated Jaffer (A), Furniture from British India and Celyon, 2001, catalogue No.50, p 206.But for the use of ivory, the form and decoration of this box mirrors contemporary Tunbridge Ware tea caddies of sycamore, penwork and polychromy. That the Regency ideal of contented English rural domesticity could be translated over so great a distance, and imitated with such fidelity, by native Indian craftsmen, yet devoid of any hint of exoticism was such that when it was acquired by the V&A ub 1951 that example was thought to be English.