A FINE CARVED HARDWOOD INDO-COLONIAL SETTEE
Coromandel Coast, Eastern India, 18th century and later

Of elongated rectangular shape, resting on six compressed rounded feet, with straight back supported by rectangular side shafts terminating in bird-shaped finials, the hardwood structure deeply and intricately carved with fine floral motifs, blossomed roses, scrolling vegetal sprays and bands of animals and mythical creatures from India, including griffins, lions, gazelles, spotted deer, tigers, makaras, and large kirtimukha faces in the middle of the panels, stylised rampant lions surmounted by armrests designed as makaras with long elephant trunks, the openwork panels of the back and around the legs featuring roundels with Hindu gods and goddesses like Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, and Narasimha, the fourth Avatara of Vishnu, around the red velvet-lined and studded seat a frieze of lotus petal-shaped decorations, the overall taste, design and concept of the settee in line with Indo-Colonial productions of the Coromandel coast, a successful marriage of Eastern decorative motifs and Western-style furniture, 111cm x 62cm x 186cm.

For a similar example of 17th and 18th-century Coromandel coast settee produced for the Dutch colonies, please see Christie's London, 10 June 2013, lot 125.