Although details such as the shell carvings and distinctive banding around each drawer front suggest Boston associations, design features such as the shape of the legs and the compressed oval openings in the pediment indicate this chest was made in Essex County, Massachusetts.

A small group of similar but also highly individualized masks from Timor is noteworthy for the masks' great age and their simple, sometimes raw, but always evocative facial features. Given the long period of time over which they were used, these masks always display varied surface areas. Usually, they consist of hardened layers that are partly granulated, in combination with areas that exhibit a glossy black patina.

Throughout Indonesia, traditional peoples created a wide variety of protective charms to ensure well-being and prosperity. Images of animals, ancestors, and spirit beings were cast in various materials and carved from wood, bone, and, in some rare instances, ivory. A small number of amulets crafted from either wood or buffalo horn are known to exist from Atauro.

The Dallas Museum of Art has three outstanding examples of tubular skirts from the Belu region of Timor. These impressive sarong feature supplementary weft wrapping techniques.

Tubular skirts are worn with the top edge folded over to the waist or below. For this reason, the upper and lower areas of the cloth are the focus of the design. This skirt is embellished with stylized skeins of thread alternating with protective lizards.

Formerly known as Kambing or Goat Island, Atauro is a small island dominated by several extinct volcanoes that are surrounded by a mostly dry and rugged landscape. The island is less than sixteen miles from Dili and the Timor mainland.

The term "cabinetmaker" emerged as more sophisticated methods of furniture building emerged in mid-17th century England and colonial America. The earliest American settlers brought deeply embedded woodworking traditions with them on their long voyages to the New World. They made good use of the abundance of timber that resulted as they reshaped the forested landscape.

The following essay is from the 1989 publication American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, by Charles L. Venable.