An Indo-Portuguese Thane writing box with an ecclesiastical coat of arms

This writing box, made from teak (Tectona grandis), veneered in ebony (Diospyros ebenum), and decorated with inlays of East Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia), sandalwood (Santalum album), elephant ivory, and green-dyed bone, was likely made in Thane in the second half of the sixteenth century, then part of the Northern Province of the Portuguese State of India.

Of box construction, with a sliding top cover, this writing box has a single drawer at the front and, when uncovered, reveals two large open compartments at the front, and four at the back, one lidded to hold the inkwell.

Its pierced openwork gilt-copper fittings include corner brackets, a rosette-shaped lock plate, and a central spiralled drawer pull. Elevated on similarly fire-gilt copper ball feet, this rare writing box is intricately decorated on all sides, except for the underside, following a carpet-like composition.

The top, with a more complex design, boasts a fine border of six-petalled rosettes alternating in ivory and rosewood, and a placed -r of floral scrolls, with serrated leaves and flowers, with  double-headed eagles or gandabherunda—a Hindu mythological bird imbued with magical strength used to ward off evil and protect the precious objects stored inside the box placed  - placed at the corners. The central field, also framed by a similar narrow border with alternating rosettes, prominently features an oval medallion with a narrow-pearled frieze encircling the heraldic arms of an ecclesiastic surmounted by a black clerical hat with three tassels on each side. The shield, divided in two, shows, on the left, a banner topped by a cross surrounded by stars and, on the right, four bars. The central medallion is surrounded by opposing flowering plants. While the sides and back show floral scrolls emerging from vases, the front lacks a vase.

In ecclesiastical heraldry, a black hat with three tassels on each side, for a total of six, is generally associated with canons. Because heraldry of this period is highly individual and less strictly codified than later personal heraldry, it is difficult, if not impossible, to identify the individual who used these arms and likely commissioned this writing box.

This type of writing box, modelled after sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European prototypes that are now very rare, was produced for export in exotic, durable woods of great decorative effect, in the various furniture-producing centres of Portuguese India, such as Goa, Cochin, and other locations along the west coast of India. Given that sixteenth-century Portuguese records mention the village of Taná or Thane, today part of the city of Mumbai (Bombay), where a large community of Muslim craftsmen flourished, as a centre for precious marquetry furniture, it is likely that the centre of production of this writing box was Thane, then part of the Northern Province of the Portuguese State of India.[1] The present writing box belongs to an exceptional rare group, the earliest furniture made for the Portuguese market that has only recently been identified as to its geographical origin, decorative sources of inspiration, and historical context of production.[2]

A small number of writing boxes of this type, with a sliding cover and similarly decorated with floral inlays, have been published in recent years.[3] One writing box (14.5 x 27.2 x 39.4 cm) with sliding top of this production and similar decoration belongs to the collection of Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon (inv. 1671 Mov).