Casket

ca. 1760–65

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 510

Based on a European prototype but constructed from indigenous timber and densely decorated with ivory inlays displaying European ornament, this casket is an excellent example of an Anglo-Indian export piece. Writing boxes, rifles and gun boxes with European marquetry decoration are likely to have been used by Europeans. This particular casket is decorated with the crest of the Hastings family, presumably of Warren Hastings (1732–1818). Hastings had a brilliant and finally tragic career in service of the British East India Company. Leaving England in 1750, he became the British resident in Murshidabad seven years later, returning to England in 1765. Hastings went back to India in 1769 and was appointed Governor General of Bengal in 1773. Hastings ultimately left India in 1785 to face a long trial for impeachment charges.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Title: Casket
Date: ca. 1760–65
Culture: Indian, Vizagapatam
Medium: Ebony and engraved ivory, tortoiseshell; mirror glass; silver hardware; brass feet; iron lock
Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 5 1/4 × 20 5/8 × 14 in. (13.3 × 52.4 × 35.6 cm)
Classification: Natural Substances-Ivory
Credit Line: Purchase, The James Parker Charitable Foundation Gift, 2016
Object Number: 2016.115
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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Factory owner Period of Josiah Wedgwood
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Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense), Steel, copper alloy (brass), Indian, Deccan, Golconda — Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense)
Indian, Deccan, Golconda
dated A.H. 1026/1617–18 CE

Collector's Cabinet, Iacopo Fiamengo Italian, Ebony, African blackwood, ebonized wood; ivory (engraved and carved) and bone; case: coniferous wood; drawers: beech, coniferous wood, walnut; knobs, lock, hinges: gilt iron with modern bronze paint <br/><br/>Primary woods and materials: ebony, African blackwood, ebonized wood (veneer applied to the back); ivory (engraved and carved); bone (stringing)<br/>Drawer knobs, lock, hinges: gilt iron with modern bronze paint <br/>Secondary woods: <br/>Case: coniferous wood <br/>Drawers: beech, coniferous wood, walnut; stained poplar and coniferous wood used for modern casings of locks, Italian, Naples — Collector's Cabinet
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ca. 1595–1600

Teapot, Stoneware, British (American market) — Teapot
British (American market)
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Indian, Deccan, possibly Hyderabad
17th–18th century

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