Description A Dutch colonial ebony and kayu pelet small bureau cabinet,Second half 18th century, Batavia,The shaped moulded cornice above two glazed doors, enclosing an interior with five variously sized and shaped drawers surrounded by openwork foliate carving, above a slope enclosing an interior with six drawers and four open compartments, above a further frieze drawer, on bun feet. Until recently, only six of these small kayu pelet writing cabinets were known, two of which are in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This piece is a new addition to this list. Chinese joinery is used in this cabinet, and these small pieces were probably the work of a single Chinese workshop in Batavia. The dynamic yellow kayu pelet wood was the most expensive wood available on Java.,75x47x32 cm,,Provenance: Property of the family of the Dutch noble family Taets van Amerongen and thence by descent. Literature: A comparable cabinet in the Rijksmuseum is illustrated in J. Terwen-de Loos, Het Nederlands Koloniale Meubel (Franeker 1985), p. 105, as well as in Jan Veenendaal, `Het Meubel in Batavia`, in: Wonen op de Kaap en in Batavia 1602-1795 (Zwolle 2002), pp. 23-45, p. 37.