Minneapolis Institute of Art

Writing desk on stand

Date

c. 1725–50

Medium

Desk: Rosewood, ivory inlaid with lac and silver, Stand: Ebony and other wood

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This desk’s Indian makers used British pattern books as a guide. These forms suited their elite British market, including colonial officials. It incorporates local materials that were plentiful to Indian craftsmen in the 18th-century, but today they are scarce. The ebony for the stand and the rosewood of the desk were once abundant in southern India, as was elephant ivory, in widespread use for architectural woodwork decoration in southern India. All three materials are now either endangered or threatened. Asia

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