The form and decoration of this table are typical of a large group of furniture made in India under Portuguese patronage. Although pieces of this type were produced in quantity, there is very little that can be firmly established about the workshops which made them. Some idea of date of manufacture is provided by parallels in ornament on 17th century European furniture, which was characterised by inlay of a variety of types, including ‘seaweed’ marquetry, named after the intricate interlacing designs and dense arabesques that were inlaid.

Although these are possible influences, Indo-Portuguese furniture of this type is also characterised by wholly distinctive elements such as abstracted animal and geometric designs which have no precedent in any one European or Indian tradition. The scrolling legs, for instance, derive from 17th century Iberian furniture, but are inlaid with bird forms that scholars have associated with jatayu, king of the vultures and a central character in the Ramayana.