Work Basket
ca. 1855 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This basket was made at the Indian port of Vizagapatam, specifically to be featured at the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1855. Vizagapatam was a long-standing centre of fancy cabinetwork. This piece was made at a time when craftsmen working there began to produce objects mainly of wood embellished with ivory touches, rather than exclusively of ivory, in order to appeal to a wider market. For the same reason they also made this form using porcupine quills, which was a cheaper material.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Sandalwood, with borders of ivory, engraved and highlighted with lac; silver mounts; carved ivory lotus, bun feet and engraved carrying handle |
| Brief description | Sandalwood work basket, ca.1855, Andra Pradesh. |
| Physical description | Sandalwood work basket. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Gallery label | Work basket
Sandalwood, and ivory incised and filled with black lac
Made by Sedachellum
Waltair, Vishakhapatnam, c.1855
9785 (IS)
East India Company officials bought this work basket in 1855 for 18 rupees, in a district of Vishakhapatnam. It was sent to the Paris Universal Exhibition of the same year and bought at the exhibition by the Indian Museum in London. When the museum's collections were dispersed in 1879, the basket was transferred to the South Kensington Museum in 1879.(2010) |
| Production | Andra Pradesh |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This basket was made at the Indian port of Vizagapatam, specifically to be featured at the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1855. Vizagapatam was a long-standing centre of fancy cabinetwork. This piece was made at a time when craftsmen working there began to produce objects mainly of wood embellished with ivory touches, rather than exclusively of ivory, in order to appeal to a wider market. For the same reason they also made this form using porcupine quills, which was a cheaper material. |
| Bibliographic reference | Jaffer, Amin Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. London : V&A Publications, 2001. 416 p., ill. ISBN 1851773185.p.211, pl.56. |
| Other number | 4,290 - India Museum Slip Book |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 9785(IS) |
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| Record created | December 4, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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