During a visit to the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford, in 1988, the present writer spotted wood mounted ivory cabinet of the 17th Century of Sri Lankan origin among the things displayed in the South Asian origin among the things displayed in the South Asian section. According to the measurements given, the height of the cabinet is 71/4 in (18.5cm), the length is 9 ins (23) and the width is 6 ins (15.5cm). The museum catalogue says that it was purchased with the help of the friends of the Ashmolean 19 1976. The description of this ivory cabinet in the publication “Indian art in Ashmolean Museum” is interesting. I shall quote the relevant sections:
“In the 17th Century the vigorous and highly organized Dutch East India Company built up an unrivalled Asian trading network which included a near monopoly of the lucrative spices of Indonesia. As part of his commercial empire the Dutch established a number of trading ports network which included a near monopoly of the lucrative spices of Indonesia. As part of this commercial empire the Dutch established a number of trading ports in India and in the coastal regions of Ceylon from which the last Portuguese stronghold had been removed by 1658. In Ceylon they were able to take advantage of the ancient indigenous traditions of wood and ivory carving. Considerable quantities of hardwood furniture were produced after dutch models, similar to the work associated with the Company’s headquarters of Batavia (Modern Jakarta) as seen for example in two carved ebony chairs said to have been owned by Charles II’s queen Catherine of Braganza which came to the Museum from Elias Ashmole in 168.
The ivory carvers of Ceylon were already accustomed to producing fine pieces in the European (Portuguese) taste as export of presentation items, as is’ shown by a small surviving group of elaborate caskets incorporating Christian and European imagery which date from the mid 16th Century. The museum’s cabinet is a similarly hybrid production, although of a later type. It is overlaid with carved ivory panels, mingling scenes of Europeans with traditional decoration. The top panel shows the reception of a European party among the huts and palms of a port in Ceylon with several ships riding at anchor among billowing waves. The back panel depicts the culmination of an elephant hunt, with six elephants penned in a stockade and four European soldiers among the participants. The two sides of the cabinet are decorated with intricate foliated scrollwork with a pair of flying parrots, around a central lotus rosette. The door panels have pairs of fiercely strutting serapendiyas (a lion headed variant of the auspicious hansa bird which is a common motif in the later ivory and metal work of Ceylon.
We find several ivory cabinets of Sri Lankan origin in British museums such as Victoria and Albert Museums and the British Museum in London. But none of them are as interesting as this one now exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. On the other hand, if anything is historically valuable and corresponds with the sculptured subject matter of European rule in Sri Lanka few such objects are found elsewhere in places like Vienna and Munich Museums. The Ivory casket found in the Residenz Munchen, Schatzkammer was presumably presented by King Bhuvanekabahu VII (1521-1551 AD) of Kotte to the Portuguese king, Don Juan III, on the occasion of the Sinhalese delegation to Lisbon in 1542 AD. The scenes depicted in it are the departure of the delegation from Kotte; Portuguese Knights seated on war horse engaged in tournament, the Sinhalese delegate having a meal with a Portuguese dignitary etc. Anchor Ivory casket in this museum presented by the same King has on the left panel Bhuvanekabahu VII in the Bodhiatva or Maitreya Ornaments seated on a throne. The Rule of Kotte is seated under a Makara Torana. The king is attended by two brothers. On one side of the panel it has a scene of the departure of the delegates from Kotte, on the left which is Don Juan III of Portugal receiving the fief-oath of Dharmapala in effigy. The right panel has the scene of Don Juan rowing the status of Dharmapala and then acknowledging the succession of the grand- son of Bhuvanekabahu VII to the throne of Sri Lanka. These historical scenes belong to the period 1542 AD. But the present Ivory casket under discussion precedes the former and belongs to a much earlier period which is the beginning of Portuguese rule in Sri Lanka. (This important item is not included in Dr. De Silva’s catalogue published in 1975). Therefore we will consider the panel and its historical importance here.
This wooden cabinet overlaid with carved ivory panels, is undoubtedly a valuable piece of art belonging to the 17th Centaury. Like the previous ones now deposited in the Vienna and Munich museums, the cabinet under discussion may not necessarily be a gift of a king of Sri Lanka to a foreign king or dignitary merely because its carvings depict at historical scene on panels. As rightly observed by the previous writer on the subject “the ivory carvers of Sri Lanka were accustomed to producing fine pieces in the European taste as export or presentation items, as is shown by a surviving group of elaborate caskets incorporating Christian and European imagery which date from the 16th Century” The present ivory cabinet may be a work of an ivory carver from Galle, a place famous even today for competence in ivory works and of a carver familiar with the events related to the advent of the early Europeans to this country. The coastal South of Sri Lanka including the city of Galle came under European rule dating from the 16th Century and beginning with the advent of the Portuguese in the year 1505 AD.
The subject of the ivory carvings on the panels of this cabinet is no doubt the story Portuguese arrival in Sri Lanka in the year 1505. The king at that time at Kotte was Dharma Parakramabahu (1489-1513 A.D.)
King Manual of Portugal (1435-1521 AD) in his instruction to Don Francisco de Almeida who was going out to become the first viceroy of Portuguese India was ordered to send out vessels under a suitable commander to discover Ceylon, Pegu, Malacca as early as possible. According to Portuguese sources (Correa), it was Don Laurenco de Almedia, the captain major of the fleet who was a young nobleman and the son of the first Portuguese viceroy of India, who was forced by winds and waves to this island after sailing for 18 days from Cochin in South India on his way to the Maldives.
The news of the arrival of a strange fleet reached the king of Kotte. The Sinhala literary work, Rajavaliya, describing these strange people says that “there is in our harbour of Colombo a race of people, fair of skin and comely withal. The don jackets and hats of iron, rest not a minute in one place but walk here and there. They eat hunks of stone (bread) and drink blood (wine). They give two o three pieces of old and silver for one fish or one time. The report of their cannon is louder than thunder when it burst upon the rock of Yugandhara”.
When the news reached Kotte, the king summoned his ministers and discussed the situation at length. The council of ministers then decided a compromise and sent messengers with gifts of the king. Don Laurence was so pleased at the arrival of these royal messengers that he sent Fernao Cutrim, the captain of the fleet as a envoy to Kotte. As father S.G. Perera observes: “ The Royal councilors how ever, had thought it unsafe to let the foreigner see that Kotte was no near Colombo and down dale, for three long days. He was commissioned to convey the commander’s compliments and inquire whether the king would enter into a treaty with the Portuguese. Though he did not see the king or converse with him it was assumed that the king would be pleased to form an alliance. With this message Cutrim returned along with some of the King’s people and elephants to conduct an ambassador. Payo de Souza was thereupon chosen by Don Laurence to wait upon the king and negotiate a treaty on trade. He was received in the royal court and the request was granted with great courtesy.
The Rajavaliya, the Sinhala literary work of the same period, has the following description to corroborate the Portuguese version which is also supported by Queyroz. It says:
Sinhala
The two panels of the ivory cabinet tell the story of Portuguese arrival in the Colombo harbour and sending their ambassador to meet the king of Kotte, who according to the above description in the Rajavaliya gets ten elephant as a gift from the king of Kotte. The top panel depicts a scene of the Colombo harbour with several ships amidst waves. In the middle is the land. Here houses, trees, a gate, men and women are depicted some carrying baskets on their hats on and with a dress similar to that of a soldier. The scene is that of a busy port. At the bottom of the panel is a seene of line of houses which indicates that it is a street. The panel depicts a fortress with elephants in it is a scene of some four European soldiers. One soldier who is in front is carrying a spear. The other two are blowing the trumpets and the fourth is matching forward wearing a sword. These men are followed by a row of elephants with their mahouts on them. The ultimate result of this visit to the King of Kotte was seen few years Dhampala (1551-97 AD), a great grand- son of the above king Dharma Parakramabahu, was crowned in absentia in Lisbon by the king of Portugal and this became the subject matter of the ivory carving in the box presented by king Bhuvanekabahu VII to the Portuguese king Don Juan III, in 1542 AD, which is now in the Munchi Museum.
The intricate foliated scrollwork decoration on the sides and drawers of the cabinet are commonly found among the contemporary designs in the Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka. Te door panels are decorated with sarapendi in a circle of a similar foliated design. It is a hybrid product of design art originating in India. The knotted liyapota (leaves) mixed with sinha flower or kadupul flower is the design on the panels of the drawers. Artistically, the whole cabinet with its intricate carvings displays a high standard.
(I am thankful to Dr. Andrew Topsfield of the Department of Eastern Art of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, for providing me the prints of Ivory cabinet for this study).
