The workbox is decorated in the sadeli technique, a geometric micromosaic composed of various woods, metals and ivory. "The technique came to India from Shiraz in the sixteenth century. It consists of binding together lengths of geometrically shaped rods or strips of diverse materials such as tin, horn, ivory, green-stained ivory, sappan wood and ebony arranged in symmetrical geometric patterns. These rods are sliced through transversely and formed into thin sheets of repeating patterns that are laid over and glued to the carcass." In the nineteenth century workboxes, portable writing desks and jewellery boxes were decorated with sadeli work and were popular souvenirs with travelers to India. (See Amin Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, 2001). Provenance: This workbox includes a letter dated 2 November 1814, from William Boyce, Merchant in Bombay, to Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817) in which he mentions this workbox as a gift for Mrs Edgeworth.

[close this window]