Furniture from British India and Ceylon: a catalogue of the collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum

Abstract

Furniture from British India and Ceylon is divided into two sections. The introductory chapters provide contextual background and discuss subjects such as the British response to things Indian, the domestic interior and factors which shaped its appearance, and the sources of furniture. Amin Jaffer provides a reconstruction of the complex furniture trade between East and West, offering new insights into the relationship between European, Chinese and Indian craftsmen which shed light on the difficulty of correctly attributing colonialfurniture. The second section is an extensive catalogue of two hundred pieces from the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. Each piece of furniture is illustrated, often with more than one view, and contextual illustrations, including many unusual and evocative images of domestic interiors and craftsmen at work, are provided throughout the book. The scope of the material covered and the accompanying illustrations, many of which are published for the first time, make this volume a definitive reference work for collectors, dealers and scholars interested in furniture and the material culture of British India.

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