AN INDIAN 'SADELIWORK' DRUM TABLE

Indian micromosaic work, known as sadeli, made its way to Sindh from Shiraz during the 16th century, and thence to the Bombay Presidency towards the end of the 18th century. An intricate and delicate mixture of materials including ivory, green-stained ivory, tin, horn, ebony and sappan wood, the majority of items produced were small in scale and portable such as boxes, inkstands, watchstands and other small implements. Such objects were easily exported to England and are recorded in several collections in the 19th century, including that of Queen Charlotte (sold Christie's London, 24 May 1819, lots 101, 116, 118). Small tables and chairs were sometimes made, as illustrated in a photograph taken circa 1902 by J.A.G. Wales (Wales, J.A.G., A Monograph on Wood Carving in the Bombay Presidency, n.p., Bombay, 1902) of Surat carvers making an octagonal drum table, but larger items, such as the present example, are very rare.