Indian 1875-80 man. Bombay Art Furnishing Est.

A tall magazine rack in East Indian rosewood, with a panel of lacquer. The magazine rack consists of a rectangular case with an upright in each corner that extends down to form the legs. The case is open and is defined by a number of symmetrically arranged square-section rails. The top is divided into two open sections for holding magazines, divided from each other with a pair of X-shaped rails.The front and back of the upper register of the case are each mounted with a cetnrally positioned rectangular panel, the front panel of lacquer and depicting birds amidst foliage, and the back panel of ebonized wood. The front and back of the lower register of the case are each mounted with a panel in contrasting rosewood. Each side of the lower register is pierced with two scalloped reserves. In between the lower edge of the case and the legs are spandrel brackets defined by three cubes. The underside of the front edge of the case is mounted with a brass plaque stamped:' THE BOMBAY/ ART FURNISHING/ ESTABLISHMENT'. The legs are raked and terminate in elongated squared scroll feet, each pair of legs joined by a stretcher. The lacquer panel is chipped.

The Bombay Art Furnishing Establishment was first recorded in Bombay trade directories in 1904 but was probably producing furniture at least a decade earlier

The design of this piece effectively demonstrates just how international design had become by the late nineteenth century. Though it was produced in Bombay, this rosewood and laquer magazine rack was made in the Anglo-Japanese style that became fashionable in Britain beginning in the 1870s. Though we know very little about the manufacturer, The Bombay Art Furnishing Establishment, it was one of the few firms who could supply such up-to-date 'art furniture' in India in the 1890s. Such products were popular with the many Britons working in government administration and the army in India.

W.15-1988