Mumbai: The Great Eastern Home, a store of many heritage and vintage furniture pieces from different eras has unique period styles. One such heritage style of furniture is the Portuguese Furniture. Portuguese furniture has been quite distinctive from other contemporary European styles, especially from the 17th century onwards. Legendary mariners from the Iberian Peninsula had been the vanguards of sea explorations from the 15th century onwards, discovering sea routes to Africa, Asia and also the Americas. Having established themselves across four continents they could not but be influenced by the other cultures that they encountered.
The Portuguese period style is extremely collectable and varies from the most decorative and intricately carved tables and chairs to the more substantial cupboards featuring fielded panels and large brass hinges. The chair became the focus of the artistic experiment. These pieces are usually vigorously carved with barley twists being a much preferred decorative motif and used extensively. Native woods like walnut and oak were spurned in favour of foreign exotic woods, especially ebony. The use of tooled leather held with metal studs became a singular characteristic for many pieces. The embossed leather would be worked over with shell motifs, foliates and decorative designs. Sometimes the Iberian style is unique with unpredictable combinations inspired by the contact with the rest of the world. Along with the types of chairs, products such as the Baroque sideboard, Walnut wood bar cabinet, Portuguese Chest, Portugal writing desk and Portuguese cabinet are available at The Great Eastern Home.
