This luxuriously decorated cabinet was produced in India, probably for a client in Portugal. The form is Western, but the designs – inlays of exotic woods, metal, and ivory – relate to the Mughal arts of India. Europeans commissioned Western-styled furniture from local carpenters skilled in the production of exotic goods specifically for Western markets. Cabinets of this unusual shape are called contador de capela, Portuguese for “chapel cabinet”. The name probably refers to the pyramidal shape, similar to a chapel, but there is no evidence they were used in religious settings.
