Rare Indo-Portuguese Carved Iconographic Coconut

Antique Caucasian Seichur rug with dark yellow ground and rare triple border. Finely hand-knotted with even medium wool pile on wool foundation. Very good ...

Excellent hand thrown Kage Farsta stoneware bowl with interesting and nicely drippy matte finish yellow/ochre glaze. Hand signed and stamped, as shown. The world renown Wilhelm Kage ...

An archaic and unique antique hand-knotted rug produced by the nomads in Central Anatolia by the turn of the century for their daily use rather than re-sale purpose. Lustrous wool pi...

A rare and early Karabagh long rug from the first quarter of the 19th century featuring an all-over lattice work design with integrated shield and cross motifs in a subtle color pale...

Antique Caucasian Chi Chi Shirvan rug. Finely hand-knotted with even medium wool pile on wool foundation. Very good condition. Washed professionally. Measures: 4 x 6.3 ft.

Antique South West Anatolian rug from Fethiye or Telmessos, as in the ancient times, which used to be named as Makri in 19th century. Wool pile on wool foundation. Very good conditio...

Presenting a fabulously rare 18c Indo-Portuguese Vargueno mini cabinet. Extremely rare, highly important and desirable colonial piece ! It is an In...

An exceptional Indo-Portuguese colonial mother-of-pearl veneered casket with silver mounts India, Gujarat, 2nd half of the 16th century, the silver mounts Goa or probably Lisbon Measures: H. 16 x W. 24.6 x D. 16.1 cm An exceptional Gujarati casket with a rectangular box and truncated pyramidal lid (with slopes on each side and a flat top) made from exotic wood, probably teak (Tectona grandis), covered with a mother-of-pearl mosaic. The tesserae, cut from the shell of the green turban sea snail (Turbo marmoratus, a marine gastropod) in the shape of fish scales, are pinned to the wooden structure with silver ball-headed nails. The casket is set on bracket feet on the corners. The masterfully engraved decoration of the silver mounts follows the most refined and erudite Mannerist repertoire of rinceaux and ferroneries dating from the mid-16th century. The high quality and refinement of the silver mounts and, likewise, the silver nails that replaced the original brass pins used to hold the mother-of-pearl tesserae in place indicate the work of a silversmith probably working in Lisbon in the second half of the 16th century. The Indian origin of this production, namely from Cambay (Khambhat) and Surat in the present state of Gujarat in north India, is, as for the last three decades, consensual and fully demonstrated, not only by documentary and literary evidence - such as descriptions, travelogues and contemporary archival documentation - but also by the survival in situ of 16th-century wooden structures covered in mother-of-pearl tesserae. A fine example is a canopy decorating the tomb (dargah) of the Sufi saint, Sheik Salim Chisti (1478-1572) in Fatehpur Sikri in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, north India. This is an artistic production, geometric in character and Islamic in nature, where usually the mother-of-pearl tesserae form complex designs of fish scales or, similar to the dishes also made using the same technique, with the thin brass sheets and pins, stylized lotus flowers. The truncated pyramidal shape corresponds, like their contemporary tortoiseshell counterparts also made in Gujarat, to a piece of furniture used in the Indian subcontinent within the Islamic world prior to the arrival of the first Portuguese. This shape, in fact, is very old and peculiar to East-Asian caskets, chests or boxes used to contain and protect Buddhist texts, the sutras. A similar chest is the famous and large reliquary chest from Lisbon cathedral that once contained the relics of the city's patron saint, Saint Vincent. Both match in shape, having the same kind of socle or pedestal and bracket feet, and in their engraved silver mountings, featuring the same type of refined, erudite decoration. Their differences lie in the silver borders that frame the entire length of the edges of the chest (both the box and the lid), pinned with silver nails, and on the lock plate, shaped like a coat of arms in the Lisbon example. Given the exceptional dimensions of the reliquary casket...

A fine Indo-Portuguese inlaid teak wood figure of Nagini India, Goa, 17th century Measure: H. 55 cm (with stand, and with ring for wall hanging) The sculpture can be perceived as such but probably is one of four legs of an Indo-Portuguese contador...

A unique wooden ladle with a half coconut shell attached, originally used for serving soup.The handle is a statue of a tribal man. Perfect perhaps to remo...

Vintage Wooden Coconut Grater in Animal Form, Thailand A utilitarian implement commonly used in an Asian household. To use it, the coconut is cut in h...

Islamic Indo Persian kulah khud helmet with Arabic hand engravings. Hand forged, made of heavy tinned copper metal Middle eastern influence warrior helmet ...