{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O70963"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70963/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM9060/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM9060/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM9060","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KN2456","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O70963/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O70963","accessionNumber":"777-1865","objectType":"Cabinet","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This cabinet is of a form that was much reproduced in Portuguese India.  Examples exist in a host of different sizes and with various types of decoration. These range from abstract scrolling inlay to repeating designs of triangles or intersecting circles.  The most distinctive feature of such furniture is the sculpted supporting figures that make up the legs.  These have a variety of human and animal forms which past scholars have identified with various Hindu divinities.  The figures on this cabinet, although curiously represented, bear no real imprint of Hinduism.  Instead, they take the form of atlantes. These are carved male figures that were used as columns in western Classical architecture. European cabinetmakers often used such figures as supports on high-quality furniture made about 1670 to 1700, when this cabinet was made.","physicalDescription":"Cabinet (<font -i>contador</font -i>), Cedar, inlaid with ebony and ivory, with gilt metal copper mounts.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cedar","id":"AAT12514"},{"text":"ebony","id":"AAT12055"},{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"},{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"}],"techniques":[{"text":"inlay","id":"AAT53850"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cedar, inlaid with ebony and ivory, with gilt copper mounts","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AM9060","2017KN2456"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES344219"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Cabinet","id":""}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"Table stand","id":""}],[{"text":"Drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawer","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawers (furniture components)","id":"AAT40558"}],[{"text":"drawer","id":"AAT40558"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Goa","id":"x29824"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 17th century","earliest":"1650-01-01","latest":"1700-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"150","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"140","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"69","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"\"This cabinet is of a form that was much reproduced under Portuguese patronage in India. Examples exist in a host of different sizes and with various types of decoration ranging from abstracted scrolling inlay to repeating designs of triangles. The pattern of stars and intersecting circles that adorns this cabinet is perhaps the most commonly reproduced motif on such furniture and may be found on articles commissioned by the Portuguese in other parts of Asia The most distinctive feature of such furniture is the sculptural treatment of the legs, which are usually conceived as supporting figures. These assume a variety of human and animal forms. However, the most common are creatures with the upper body of a man or woman and a scaled lower body like a sea serpent. Past scholars have identified these with <font -i>nagas</font -i> and <font -i>naginis</font -i>, Hindu snake divinities that are considered auspicious and are believed to provide protection from dangers, including snake bites. The figures on this cabinet, although curiously represented, bear no real imprint of Hinduism. Rather, they continue the Western classical architectural tradition of employing atlantes (male versions of caryatids) as columns. Following the convention of treating furniture as an architectural form, on high-style European furniture of the later seventeenth century such figures were imaginatively conceived as supports for cabinets. The posturing and articulation of the atlantes on this piece, however, suggests that they are modelled on architectural supports of some type, probably from the interior of a church.\r\n\r\nThe Western inspiration behind this piece of furniture is clearly a straightforward seventeenth-century cabinet on stand. However, the design of this piece departs from European examples in its inclusion of the lower register of four drawers, which give the piece a cumbersome appearance. Originally the supports were ornamented with decorative metal rivets, removed before this piece came to the Museum in 1865.\"\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Cabinet (<font -i>contador</font -i>), Cedar, inlaid with ebony and ivory, Goa (?), late 17th century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Luxury goods from India : the art of the Indian cabinet maker / Amin Jaffer. London: V&A Publications, 2002 Number: 1851773819","id":"AUTH332756"},"details":"pp.58-59","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"atlantes","id":"AAT1574"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["777:1-1865","777:2-1865","777:3-1865","777:4-1865","777:5-1865","777:6-1865","777:7-1865","777:8-1865","777:9-1865","777:10-1865","777:11-1865","777:12-1865","777:13-1865","777:14-1865","777:15-1865","777:16-1865"],"accessionNumberNum":"777","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1865,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-26","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-27","availableToBook":true}}