17th Century Ebony Indo-Afro-Portuguese armchair with bone inlaid decoration and rope (sissó). This type of chair comes from the East Coast of Africa in areas of Portuguese influence, governed from Goa. In terms of form, these chairs relate to Iberian armchais from the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as prototypes from India, as depicted in Mongolian miniatures. They are an interesting expression of the fusion of European, Indian and African elements. They are certainly chairs of power.
