Contrary to most furniture typologies that were manufactured in Asia for a European clientele, based on prototypes released by the Portuguese in the Orient throughout the 16th century, this model reflects an Eastern, specifically Japanese origin. These rare and unusual pieces are known in Portuguese as ventó from the Japanese etymological root bentó. However, in Japan the term bentó, according to the first Japanese-Portuguese dictionary, published in 1603, the “Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam”, was and still is today, used to refer to a container to carry food. Truly, the correct Japanese word for the ventó is kakesuzuri-bako, or “portable writing box”, which, when opening by a hinged door on its narrower side and fitted with safety locks as in a safe box, is generically called tansu or navy storage cabinet, defined as an hinged single door cabinet for seals and valuables, often adorned by intricate metalwork and having various drawers or compartments on the inside. A rare example of this uncommon, but prized type of Indo-Portuguese furniture, this cabinet is also untypically coated on the whole in tortoiseshell likely to be from the species Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys Imbricata), of which several joined scutes were needed. Similarly to horn, skin and hair, turtle scutes are made of keratin, a naturally produced and resistant protein and are fused together by a heating process, a characteristic unique to some species of marine turtles, in order to achieve large, uniform surfaces suitable for the decorating of furniture pieces. The luxurious and sophisticated feature of this type of coating, also used on the drawer fronts, is complemented by the fluted ebony framing and ivory filets whose colour contrast enriches the whole. The gilt copper metal mounts, particularly the corner pieces, hinges and escutcheon, are stylistically and technically related to the type of metalwork in indo-Portuguese pieces of the 17th C.

“Ventós”, writing boxes and small cabinets were made in Asia from exotic and otherwise expensive materials such as tortoiseshell and ivory - or, as in the present case, combining the two materials - being much admired and avidly sought after in Europe, due not only to their form and exotic character, but also to their technical perfection and decorative lavishness.[1]

[1] For other examples of this production, see Pedro Dias, Mobiliário Indo-Português, Moreira de Cónegos, Imaginalis, 2013, pp. 309, 310, 315, 319, 369.