An Early 17th C. Indo-portuguese Cabinet, Gujarat Or Sindh

Early 17th century Indo-Portuguese Cabinet, Gujarat or Sindh 
Exotic wood, bone and green tinted bone inlays.
Dimensions: h. 16 cm, l. 28 cm, p. 19cm
This cabinet is part of the Indo-Portuguese productions of Mughal influence.
Rectangular in shape, it opens on the front with a flap revealing six drawers on three registers. Adorned with any face of marquetry and inlays of exotic wood, bone and green-tinted bone, it deploys an abundant decor: vegetal and floral ornaments rub shoulders with animals and Mughal characters in a harmonious staging.
The traditional decorative repertoire of craftsmen is inspired by textiles and miniatures, but more generally it is an influence of Persian art on the Mughal Empire which reinterprets naturalism, with men and animals scattered on backgrounds of vegetation. dense, bone tinted green to show off the trees. Demonstrating the refinement of Mughal workshops, the figures are enhanced with engraving to accentuate the expressiveness of the characters and the fur of the animals.
The design of our cabinet is identical to the European model, with local craftsmen working from Western prototypes. Small handles on the sides indicate its mobile use.
Travel cabinets were essential portable furniture items for Europeans established in India – merchants or traders living and traveling in Asia were looking for this type of box with multiple drawers, personal effects, small precious objects such as only jewelry. Some were used as portable writing desks, with the flap serving as a writing surface and the drawers intended to hold writing materials and documents.
Representing sophisticated materials and techniques, "Indo-Portuguese" style cabinets were also avidly sought after in Europe.
Production of this furniture was based in western India, a historic center of luxury goods with well-established merchant communities from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe. Contemporary accounts differ as to where these items were made, perhaps suggesting that there were several centers working in related styles and sharing production methods, most notably in the provinces of Gujarat or Sindh.
Regardless of their place of manufacture, it is clear that travel cabinets were manufactured in large numbers and marketed both locally and in Europe, where their exotic materials and sophisticated style were eagerly sought after. As with other goods bound for Europe, cabinets of this type were frequently traded via Goa
Our cabinet belongs to one of the earliest identifiable groups of small furniture made in Gujarat and Sindh.
At the Victoria & Albert Museum in London there are also several cabinets very similar to ours:
 - Office, h. 16.5 cm, w. 27.5 cm, p. 20cm; inventory number 885-1905
 - Office, h. 16.5 cm, w. 27.8 cm, p. 19.5cm; inventory number 745-1876
 - Cabinet, dimensions not mentioned; inventory number 1090:1, 2-1875
On this last cabinet, we find an almost identical decoration of a panel illustrating "the tiger hunting the deer"