The circular top inlaid with a chess board. Applied overall with etched and pierced decoration and with a carved baluster stem. Supported on four paw feet.

This extensive use of decorative ivory fretwork on horn was very rarely used to embellish such a large item. Amin Jaffer illustrates a davenport of sandalwood, veneered with tortoiseshell and ivory, and similarly overlaid with ivory fretwork in ‘Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum’, fig. 98, p.216 (Amin Jaffer, ‘Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum’ (Timeless Books, New Delhi, 2001)). This davenport also has similar paw feet. It was made in Vizagapatam, created for the Maharaja of Vizianagram, who was the principal ruler in the region, by L. Venkatadas – a leading craftsman and ‘Ivory Work-Box Dealer’, circa 1880.