This cabinet replicates, in its form, an East Asian prototype known in Portuguese as a ventó. The Japanese term bentō, which passed into Portuguese according to the first Japanese-Portuguese dictionary—the Nippo jisho, published as Vocabulario da lingoa de Iapam in 1603—refers to a lunch box. The original Japanese model for the ventó is known as a kakesuzuri-bako, or ‘portable writing box’. When featuring a front door and fittings resembling a strongbox, it is called a funa-dansu, or ‘ship chest with drawers’. This is a box for seals (documents, writing instruments, and inkstones) and money, typically adorned with intricate metal fittings and containing various drawers or compartments behind a single front door with hinges. The materials and decoration of this ventó, point to a Ceylonese production, probably a commission from Portuguese or Dutch high officials and traders for the European market. While the shape and function have a clear European influence, the subject and style of the elaborate ivory carved decoration are characteristic of Ceylonese luxury arts. Pieces with a similar construction and decorative repertoire are extremely rare and found in public and private collections in very small numbers.