c. 1790

Miniature Bureau-Cabinet

This miniature bureau-cabinet, which combines a European form with both European- and Indian-style decoration, is typical of the made-for-export furniture produced in Vishakhapatnam, India, beginning in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. While many of the buildings depicted are generalized interpretations of European structures, some may represent specific buildings that Indian craftsmen copied from engravings in publications such as Colen Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (The British Architect) (1715–25). The flowers in the borders likely derive from Indian textile designs.