This impressive two-door cabinet, made from teak (Tectona grandis ), thickly veneered in ebony (Diospyros ebenum ), and decorated with inlays of East Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia ), sandalwood (Santalum album), elephant ivory, and green-dyed bone, was likely produced in the village of Thane. Its pierced openwork gilt-copper fittings include corner brackets, three floral-decorated hinges on each side, oval-shaped lock plates on the interior drawers with their pulls, two cast side handles, and a frontal lock plate. The large, superlative lock plate on the front, divided into two parts, is shaped as a polylobate cartouche, encircled above and below by four fish-dragons of Hindu mythology, the legendary sea creature known as makara. Islamic in nature, the fine pierced openwork ground of the lock plate features an intricate floral design of stylised lotus flowers and split leaves, typical of the decorative repertoire devised in the Timurid period.

This rare cabinet is intricately decorated on all sides following a carpet-like composition, except for the back—left plain, thickly veneered in rosewood with its beautiful, rich grain. All decorated exterior sides feature narrow borders of quatrefoils, alternating in ivory and sandalwood, and wide borders of vegetal scrolls with dragon-head terminals and serrated leaves. Large star-like rosettes adorn the central points, while the corners feature nāgiṇī: figures from Hindu mythology with a woman’s head and torso, touching her breasts as a symbol of fertility, and a double-coiled serpent’s body below. The central fields bear large flowering plants emerging from vases, engraved and highlighted with red and black mastic. The interior of the doors follows a different composition, with a large central field bordered by a frieze of alternating quatrefoils. These central fields display towering flowering plants rising from vases—blooming with differently shaped flowers and alive with perched birds—flanked by female figures. They appear to be dressed in European attired, bejewelled, and wearing domed, brimmed hats (gorra in Spanish). Alongside the imposing lock plate—exceptional in design and execution—the inclusion of large-scale human figures is highly unusual and adds to the historical significance of this rare cabinet. When opened, the cabinet reveals five drawers (the lowest tier arranged to mimic six for the sake of symmetry) set in three rows, the long bottom drawer designed for storing documents and paper. The drawer fronts replicate the same carpet-like composition, with narrow quatrefoil friezes alternating in ivory and sandalwood, and central fields with vegetal scrolls of serrated leaves terminating in dragon heads. The pierced openwork decoration of the individual lock plates again follows the elaborate Timurid floral pattern.

This type of two-door cabinet, modelled after sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century European prototypes—now very rare—was produced for export in exotic, durable woods with striking decorative effect in various furniture-making centres of Portuguese India, such as Goa, Cochin, and other locations along the western coast. Portuguese records of the sixteenth century mention the village of Taná or Thane—today part of the city of Mumbai (Bombay)—where a large community of Muslim craftsmen flourished, as the source of precious marquetry furniture. It is therefore likely that the production centre of this cabinet is Thane, then within the Northern Province of the Portuguese State of India.[1] The present cabinet belongs to an exceptional group of rare, early furniture made for the Portuguese market, only recently identified in terms of geographical origin, decorative sources, and historical context of production.[2] Another two-door cabinet of this type is known, differing in its interior partition, which adheres more closely to an East Asian prototype. Featuring a similarly exuberant decoration of flowering vases—this time including heraldic lions, rabbits and peafowl—its gilt-copper fittings, although based on Chinese and Japanese models, are local in design. It belongs to the collection of Casa Marta Ortigão Sampaio (inv. 78.67.02), part of the Museu da Cidade, Porto.[3]

[1] On Portuguese-ruled Thane, see Sidh Losa Mendiratta, “Two Towns and a Villa. Baçaim, Chaul and Taná: The Defensive Structure of Three Indo-Portuguese Settlements in Northern Province of the Estado da Índia”, in Yogesh Sharma, Pius Malenkandathil (eds.), Medieval Cities in India, New Delhi, Primus Books, 2014, pp. 805-814.

[2] Hugo Miguel Crespo, Choices, Lisbon, AR-PAB, 2016, pp. 136-171, cat. 15; and Idem, India in Portugal. A Time of Artistic Confluence (cat.), Porto, Bluebook, 2021, pp. 88-105.

[3] Idem, From the Northern Province. Marquetries and ‘Lacquerware’ from Portuguese India, Lisbon, São Roque Antiguidades & Galeria de Arte, 2024, pp. 17-19, figs. 11-13.