As is confirmed by the maker's inscription, this western-style inkstand was made in Nagina, a town in the Bijnor District of the United Provinces celebrated for its high quality cabinetwork in ebony or ebonized wood. The artists who made such pieces were Muslim and the carved decoration of their wares consisted principally of floral and geometric motifs, sometimes with finely carved inscriptions and verses of poetry in Persian. The high quality of such articles confounded contemporary critics, who were astonished that superior objects of this type were being made at such a distance from both raw materials and patronage.