A Rare Ceylonese Table of Specimen Woods
by the Kandy Industrial School of Sri Lanka
Supported on a turned folding base, the elliptical top having a carved ebony edge, and sixteen different native woods including Tamarind, Waha, Calamander and Cocoanut, laid in radials, and identified by the original label underneath.
Sri Lanka, Circa 1885
Ceylonese furniture produced in the nineteenth century gained recognisation and appreciation in Western Europe with the pariticpation of South Asian furniture makers at the various international exhibtions and world fairs starting with the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.
The Kandy Industrial School was begun by the Reverend E.E. Taylor, MA in 1854, founded in the captial of the ancient kings’ of present-day Sri Lanka.
At the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 24 items of Ceylonese furniture were exhibited. The Kandy Industrial School loaned “a small inlaid round table,” which may be a reference to the present table. The informative label included on the table also supports it was intended as an exhibition piece.
References:
Colonial and Indian Exhibition London, England. Official Handbook and Catalogue of the Ceylon Court. 2nd ed. London: W. Clowes & Sons, 1886, pp. 107-108.
Jones, Robin. “Furniture from Ceylon at International Exhibitions and World’s Fairs, 1851—1904.” Furniture History 40 (2004): pp. 120 & 133.
Excellent condition
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