The colonial connection

So - what has been written about 19th century Sri Lankan furniture? In contrast to furniture of the Dutch period, Sri Lankan furniture of the 19th century is somewhat neglected by 20th century authors. Various well known and well respected authorities have written about 17th or 18th century furniture made on the island. For example, J. Penry Lewis in 1913 wrote an article entitled 'Some Old Dutch Colonial Furniture', which describes and illustrates various types of furniture produced on the island during the Dutch period.

Since the Second World War an important and still very well regarded book was produced by R L Brohier, which probably needs no introduction. Furniture of the Dutch Period in Ceylon illustrates and discusses a range of furniture produced under Dutch patronage on the island in private collections and public.

This is still a very sought after book and continues to be an important source for the furniture of this period. Ismeth Raheem and Jan Veenendaal have more recently written on Dutch colonial and 19th century furniture. To date there has been a concentration on 17/18th Century Furniture made on the island, possibly reflecting Joseph Pearson's feeling of 1928 that "The nineteenth century was a barren period in the development of furniture in England, France and Europe and the less said about it, the better!"

One of the earliest descriptions of furniture making at this time was written by Captain Robert Percival, who participated in the British expedition against the Dutch in 1796. In his "Account of the island of Ceylon" of 1803, amongst other things, he noted the location of specific craftsmen on the island and states "At Jaffna there are also a number of handicraftsmen, such as goldsmiths, joiners and makers of all different parts of house-hold furniture. They are very expert in their respective occupations".

Jaffna and surrounding areas were important to the Dutch East India Company for the production of tobacco and the town had a sizeable Dutch population, which provided a demand for the furniture makers and other craftsmen. Percival also describes vast numbers of carpenters in the Pettah in Colombo .

Other locations of furniture making are recorded for example in 'The Ceylon Gazette' 1834. This is one of the first records of Moratuwa as a furniture producing centre and describes the village as "chiefly inhabited by fishermen, among whom there are many good turners and cabinet-makers." Galle is also recorded as a centre of quality furniture production during the last century. JW Bennett, who was in the Ceylon Civil Service, in "Ceylon and its Capabilities" of 1843 writes of the furniture makers of Galle, that they "make a very durable and beautiful cabinet furniture of every description."

The vast majority of furniture makers during the 19th century were Sinhalese craftsmen living in the maritime provinces (even after 1815 there is little evidence of large scale furniture production in the old Kandyan Kingdom). In addition there were very few European furniture makers on the island. After extensive searches in English language newspapers I have only found one or two, such as William Phillips, advertising himself as a cabinet maker and French Polisher in Colombo during the 1850s. The majority of makers appear to have been Sinhalese and belonged to the Karava caste and James Emerson Tennent, the Colonial Secretary, who spent much time travelling around the island getting information for his books in his "Ceylon" of 1859 writes of the area around Bentota "the Karava or fisher caste form the most numerous section of the village population.... to the fisher caste also belong the carpenters and cabinet-maker, inhabiting the villages and towns on the southern coast...who produce the carved ebony furniture, so highly prized by Europeans".

We have more information on furniture made on the island after 1850 from documentary and other sources. Newspapers published on the island during the 19th century give a sense of types of furniture, woods used and who was selling. For example in July 1 1850, G.F Irving auctioneer of King St, Fort advertised a sale in 'The Ceylon Times', which included,

"1 richly carved ebony sofa
I richly carved calamander couch
I ebony reading couch
4 ebony side couches
I calamander table edged in ebony, on richly carved pillar etc.
I calamander side table
I ebony easy chair
I Almirah with glass and sundry other articles".

Many of the auction sales, such as the sale by Mr. de Silva in Galle, came about as Europeans moved away from the island but there were Sinhalese and Burgher consumers for locally made furniture, for example C.H de Soysa commissioned ebony and calamander furniture for Alfred House, which is illustrated in "20th century Impressions of Ceylon". The relatively large amount of information on later 19th century furniture therefore makes the Barnes collection of furniture an important source of information on furniture made in Sri Lanka during the early years of the 19th century.

Sir Edward Barnes was governor of Sri Lanka between January 1824 and October 1831, having served as a major general in the campaigns against Napoleon in the Peninsula wars and in the campaigns of 1815 in France and the Netherlands. Whilst governor of the island, he owned plantations in the Kandyan district. He, naturally, took an active self-interest in the planting of coffee and eased the tax burden on its growth and export. On his return to Britain he became a Member of Parliament and bought an estate with a house in Barnet, just north of London. He died in 1838 and the contents of his house were sold at auction in that year.

The auction was described as "the splendid assemblage of ebony and coromandel-wood furniture removed from Beech Hill House, Hertfordshire" and was offered for sale by a Mr. Rainy of Piccadilly, London. The title page lists the types of furniture to be offered for sale and states that they were "manufactured for the late Sir Edward Barnes during his residence at Ceylon". The auction catalogue is interesting for a number of reasons. It gives a sense of the style of furniture available on the island in the early years of the nineteenth century, together with types of furniture and decorative surface treatment. The catalogue descriptions are unusually detailed for a 19th century auctioneer (one line descriptions being more common) and are therefore very useful for attempted identification of existing furniture.

The ebony furniture included in the Barnes catalogue can be divided into a number of groups. In terms of quantity, by far the most numerous article of furniture was armchairs. Over forty carved armchairs of ebony and other woods are recorded. An example of one of these chairs is lot 261, described as "an ebony Elbow chair, the frame richly carved in flowers and foliage, on reeded front legs and shaped back with cane seat and loose hair cushion".

In addition to ebony arm chairs other types of chairs, probably from the Dutch period, were offered for sale, indicating the continued influence of Dutch material culture into the 19th century.

Carved sofas and settees also continued to be a feature of interiors and verandahs during the 19th century on the island, the double scroll end being a popular type, which is illustrated in a number of views of houses in Sri Lanka and in public collections on the island, such as the Dutch Period Museum. Barnes also had a number of tables made for himself whilst he was in Governor. Convertible games tables were increasingly popular.

Other tables in Barnes' collection seem to have been particularly distinctive to Sri Lanka. These form a small group of circular topped tables which are inlaid with specimens of cabinet woods, which were indigenous to the island. A number of descriptions of this specialisation of Sri Lankan furniture makers for inlaying specimen woods exists. Henry Charles Sirr in "Ceylon and the Cingalese..." (1850) compares the surface decoration of these objects to inlaid tables, which were a speciality of furniture makers at Tunbridge Wells in Kent, when he writes,

"At Galle are also manufactured those exquisite in- laid articles, which far surpass any specimen of Tunbridge ware that has yet been produced - ivory and various coloured native woods, are inlaid upon ebony and as the designs are well defined the effect produced is magnificent."

We still have an incomplete knowledge of who made furniture on the island including the Barnes commission, most of the makers remaining anonymous. The British presence directly affected wood working in so far as, for example, the Royal Engineers employed local carpenters to make the structure of buildings and furniture for military use (carpenters workshops existed in Colombo near Delft Bastion). The British also encouraged the development of Industrial Schools on the island at centres such as Colombo and Kandy, where amongst other trades wood working and carving were taught and the best furniture, made at these schools was often exhibited with other natural and manufactured produce from Sri Lanka at the 19th century international exhibitions, such as London 1862, where a very elaborate davenport was shown and the Indian and Colonial Exhibition 1886. Apart from these examples, there seems to have been little structured contact between the British and the Sri Lankan producers.

The production of furniture in Sri Lanka in the 19th century differed greatly from the production of furniture in the UK or Europe. Commentators tell us that there was little or no division of labour in relation to wood working, and according to Ananda Coomaraswamy, in "20th Century Impressions of Ceylon," "It should be understood that the master craftsman is a master of several crafts, one man for example may be at once a builder, painter, ivory carver and jeweller". In addition, furniture makers had access to a variety of tools and hardware to create and embellish their furniture.

Again Coomaraswamy refers to tools used by Kandyan craftsmen including varieties of chisel, marking gauges, saws and planes. Tools were locally made or imported from Britain, including such items as pitsaws, and mechanical circular saws, although there are accounts of complaints by the furniture makers concerning the poor quality of British tools in dealing with Sri Lankan timber. Metal bolts, hinges and locks were made locally or imported.

The carved ebony furniture "manufactured for the late Sir Edward Barnes during his residence at Ceylon" is important evidence for the production of high quality carved furniture made from elite woods, such as ebony and calamander, in the early years of the British period in Sri Lanka. From the 17th century Sri Lankan craftsmen, such as ivory workers and turners, had a reputation for making superbly wrought objects using the precious raw materials of the island. This level of skill continued throughout the 19th century as furniture makers at Galle, Moratuwa and Colombo supplied furniture for a range of patrons, which attracted comment because of its beauty and finish.

To conclude, furniture is a highly mobile artifact and can, as we have seen, easily be removed from its place of manufacture. The Barnes catalogue is useful because it gives an insight into the quality of furniture produced on the island during the British period.

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