*GRAND COFFRE EN NACRE ET ÉCAILLE DE TORTUE

TURKEY, OTTOMAN ART, LATE 18th-19th CENTURY Rectangular wooden chest on four legs, opening with five drawers, entirely inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell and bone baguettes. The top, the drawers and the sides are decorated with panels of floral stems forming arabesques, surrounded by panels of mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell in checkerboard. H: 49.5 x W: 86.5 x D: 48 cm This chest is exceptionally large in size compared to all the scribe chests on record. For a smaller chest with chequered decoration, attributed to late 18th-century Ottoman Turkey, in the Türk ve Islam Eserleri Museum, Istanbul (no. TIEM, 64), see the exhibition catalogue Islam: Faith and Worship, Abu Dhabi, 2009, cat. 32, p. 152. Expert : L.S. A LARGE OTTOMAN MOTHER-OF-PEARL, TORTOISESHELL, AND BONE-INLAID CASKET. TURKEY, LATE 18TH-19TH CENTURY Many pieces of mother-of-pearl are missing, especially on the back and on the rims. Some pieces of tortoiseshell also missing.