Scroll-decorated chest, Sri Lanka, Ceylon, second half of th - Lot 207

Scroll-decorated chest, Sri Lanka, Ceylon, second half of the 17th century Quadrangular chest opening with a drawer at the front and resting on four ivory ball feet. The object is made of wood veneered with ivory on five sides: four plates are engraved with vegetal scrolls animated by birds with outstretched wings, a fifth is decorated with dense foliage scrolls and rosettes. The edges are highlighted with a darker wood veneer, probably ebony. On the front, a silver rosette-shaped bracket with a ring for sliding the drawer. 10.1 x 13.1 x 10.6 cm Damage and missing parts (veneer and fixing tenons), soiling, one ivory plate replaced by an old one. This refined casket is part of a series of ivory pieces generally made for European clients, notably the Portuguese, who had made Ceylon one of their colonies by the 16th century. This explains the Christian iconography found on certain pieces, such as a casket with figures of Adam and Eve preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (1067:1 to 6-1855) and dated 1650-75, which features the same rinceaux furnished with birds as those engraved on our casket. Bibliography : JAFFER, Amin, Luxury Goods from India: The Art of the Indian Cabinet-Maker, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 2012, pp. 14, 54, 55.