This extremely finely carved cabinet is covered with ivory panels. The inner faces of the swinging doors depict Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The couple stands beneath the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Opening the cabinet reveals seven drawers, also mounted with ivory panels, depicting various animals surrounded by trees and rich vegetation. The exterior panels are densely carved with rich scrolling leafy vines that are typical of ivory carvings from Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan artists were well known for their fine ivory carving. They produced works depicting Hindu and Buddhist deities, and later, Christian imagery after the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505. Sri Lanka traded extensively with Portugal, and after the mid-1600s, with the Dutch. Such cabinets were mainly produced for export, but gradually became fashionable domestically.
