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Fall-Front Cabinet
Fall-Front Cabinet
Fall-Front Cabinet
Image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Fall-Front Cabinet

Primary
Date17th century
MediumBone or Shell on wood
DimensionsOverall: 7 1/2 × 11 1/4 × 8 3/4 in. (19.1 × 28.6 × 22.2 cm)
Additional Dimension: 20 1/4 in. (51.4 cm)
Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase, 2018.262.a-j
Collection AreaLatin American Art
Object number2018.262.a-j
On View
On view
Locations
  • exhibition  BMA, Gallery, A12
Label Text
Portable fall-front wooden cabinets like this one were made as early as the 1600s to hold personal effects. Whereas the cabinet’s shape, hinge technology, and metalwork are characteristic of German furniture, the intricate inlaid floral decoration and the use of ivory, shell, and bone inlaid in the wood structure are conventional practices of craftsmanship from the Gujarat (Northwest India) and Sindh (Southeastern Pakistan) regions, which at the time were part of the Mughal Empire (1526-1720). Such complex blending of aesthetic traditions took place in Goa, the most productive Portuguese settlement in the Arabian Sea, specifically to satisfy the taste of the European market.