This rosewood chair with cane seat was produced in India or the East Indies in the early 19th century. The wood is smoothly polished and brass plates (one of which is engraved “H.B.”) cover joining areas. The form, with open sides and back, looks to late 18th and early 19th century English furniture for inspiration - although the unusual arms that loop under the top rail seem to be a feature of colonial furniture from British India and the Dutch East Indies. From the 16th century onwards, Western style furniture was made all over Asia for export to Europe for for the use of local European officials and traders. Wealthy locals also came to desire this furniture, either as a symbol of modernity or cosmopolitanism. Local production was modelled after imported European examples, but also from illustrations in European books.
