Indonesian Colonial Style Desk

A European idea of a desk, carried out in tropical teak on very long legs.

This colonial style desk comes from the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia), Southeast Asia, 20th century, in teak wood, and the record describes it as Dutch colonial. Under Dutch rule, local joiners built European forms in native hardwoods for the offices and houses of administrators and merchants, and the style carried on afterward. An arched kneehole divides two shallow drawers, one with a bail handle and one with a small knob. The long plank top overhangs an apron on turned baluster legs. Seventy-one inches long.

The style outlasted the administration it was built for.