Illustrated History of Furniture, fifth ed.: From the Earliest to the Present TimeLitchfield, Frederick
History
Illustrated History of Furniture, fifth ed.: From the Earliest to the Present Time
Litchfield, Frederick
Furniture -- History
In the Jones Collection at South Kensington Museum, there are two carved
ivory chairs and a table, the latter gilded, the former partly gilded,
which are a portion of a set taken from Tippo Sahib at the storming of
Seringapatam. Warren Hastings brought them to England, and they were
given to Queen Charlotte. After her death the set was divided: Lord
Londesborough purchased part of it, and this portion is now on loan at the
Bethnal Green Museum.
Queen Victoria had also amongst her numerous Jubilee presents some very
handsome ivory furniture of Indian workmanship, which may be seen at
Windsor Castle. These, however, as well as the Jones Collection examples,
though thoroughly Indian in character as regards the treatment of scrolls,
flowers, and foliage, shew unmistakably the influence of French taste in
their general form and composition. Articles, such as boxes, stands for
gongs, etc., are to be found carved in sandal wood, and in _dalburgia_, or
black wood, with rosewood mouldings; and a peculiar characteristic of this
Indian decoration, sometimes applied to such small articles of furniture,
is the coating of the surface of the wood with red lacquer, the plain
parts taking a high polish while the carved enrichment remains dull. The
effect of this is precisely that of the article being made of red sealing
wax, and frequently the minute pattern of the carved ornament and its
general treatment tend to give an idea of an impression made in the wax by
an elaborately cut die. The casket illustrated on page 134 is an example
of this treatment. It was exhibited in 1851.
The larger examples of Indian carved woodwork are of teak; the finest
and most characteristic specimens within the writer's knowledge are the
two folding doors which were sent as a present to the Indian Government,
and are in the Indian Museum. They are of seventeenth century work, and
are said to have enclosed a library at Kerowlee. While the door frames
are of teak, with the outer frames carved with bands of foliage in high
relief, the doors themselves are divided into panels of fantastic shapes,
and yet so arranged that there is just sufficient regularity to please
the eve. Some of these panels are carved and enriched with ivory flowers,
others have a rosette of carved ivory in the centre, and pieces of talc
with green and red color underneath, a decoration also found in some
Arabian work. It is almost impossible to convey by words an adequate
description of these doors; they should be carefully examined as examples
of genuine native design and workmanship. Mr. Pollen has concluded a
somewhat detailed account of them by saying:--"For elegance of shape
and proportion, and the propriety of the composition of the frame and
sub-divisions of these doors, their mouldings and their panel carvings and
ornaments, we can for the present name no other example so instructive.
We are much reminded by this decoration of the pierced lattices at the S.
Marco in Venice."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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