λ A FINE IVORY AND BONE-INLAID STATIONARY SECRETAIRE

Possibly Gujarat, North-Western India, dated 1842

Of stepped rectangular shape, on a tall bulbous leg resting on a tripod with volute-shaped feet, the balustrade-like base rising to a larger stationary secretaire top, the interior divided in a number of drawers, tool cases and secret compartments with ivory handles, the screwed-in pole securing the table to the leg enhanced with a wooden pommel with an ivory plaque engraved with the 18th-century-designed East India Company balemark, a heart-shaped figure surmounted by the numeral four and containing the initials of the company, the inner part of the lid lined in red velvet, the exterior decorated with bone and ivory marquetry work consisting of vegetal and floral sprays, in the centre an ivory roundel with the name of Lieutenant General H. Gough and the date 1842, 79cm x 36.5cm x 25.5cm.

Provenance: Mitchell's Fine Art Auctioneer & Valuers, Antique and Fine Arts, 27 November 2019, lot 1943.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Sir Hugh Gough (1779 - 1869), also called Baron Gough (1846–49) or 1st Viscount Gough (from 1849), was an eminent British soldier who played key roles in a series of game-changing wars involving Britain in the first half of the 19th century, such as the Peninsular War (1808 - 1814), the First Opium War (1839 - 1842), and the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845 - 46 and 1848 - 49). On 18 June 1841, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in India and in China ("No. 19989", The London Gazette, 18 June 1841, p. 1583) and in 1842, he commanded the British forces at the Battle of Chapu in May and at the Battle of Chinkiang in July. Upon his return to India after the Treaty of Nanking, he was appointed the title of Baronet on 1 December 1842. It is likely he commissioned this secretaire in India as a commemoration and memorandum of a successful year in his personal and military career. For more information on Sir Gough, please visit the website entry of the Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hugh-Gough.

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