Thus, the feature making this artwork exceptional within and beyond its time period, is the juxtaposition of quasi-Native-American figures with Chinoiserie-related scenes and motifs. European interpretations of Native Americans do not get into contrast with the Chinese figures, on the contrary, they are homogeneous, creating in that way a dreamlike, carefree, playful atmosphere reminiscent of the mood and ideas Chinoiserie transmitted in general.
 
The fashion for Asian art in the West, known as a distinctive style Chinoiserie (meaning “in the Chinese taste”), is not the adaptation of authentic East Asian cultural heritage, but rather the imitation or evocation of Chinese motifs and techniques in Western art, that reached its height by the mid-18th century, primarily within the framework of the ornamental and theatrilised Rococo style (1730s-1780s), involving a wide range of art forms- garden design, furniture, painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, theatre, music, ceramics. In the Americas Chinoiserie also manifested itself in lavishly painted and decorated interiors, ornate furniture and ceramic objects inspired by both pictorial language of imported Asian luxurious commodities and European adopted Chinoiserie trends as well. The form, structure and visual properties of Chinoiserie artworks were highlighted over the components, such as subject matter and content. It’s worthy mentioning, that Chinoiserie might also be discussed as the Western willingness of getting familiarity towards distant lands and their inhabitants. That was possible rather through exchange of goods via maintaining international trade of the time, than travelling to the newly-discovered continents. The style and connotations of Chinoiserie thereby was positioned to the part of decorative, aesthetically eye-pleasing and idealised landscapes with their imaginary, delicate figures, as it was created by the artists and draughtsmen the majority of whom hadn’t directly encountered Chinese people and their customs, taking constant inspirations from made-in-Asia objects and commodities, impressions, records, stories of others. Besides, as Chinoiserie reached its apex in the era of Rococo, it absorbed the in-vogue stylised and embellishing nature of the latter. The similar notion was true for the above-mentioned cabinet and claimed in the Walters Art Museum’ s description, “The painter adapted some motifs, such as the pagodas on the drawer fronts, from Chinese porcelains, but the figures are only Asian by virtue of their long embroidered coats with sashes”. Chinese figures aren’t Chinese in terms of facial features, they are not Chinese in terms of true reflections of Chinese history, culture, lifestyle, local traditions, they were Chinese in the eyes of the European beholder. As for the figures who were meant to be perceived as Native Americans, were most likely adapted from engravings of 1584 reporting English explorations of Virginia. The earliest European visitor to the Chesapeake Bay is believed to have been Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano who probably sailed past the Virginia Capes in 1524. By 1560 English and Spanish explorers had visited the area also. The Amadas and Barlowe Expedition was the first of the English voyages to Virginia in the 1580s and was one of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempts (English statesman, soldier, writer, poet, explorer, 1552-1618) to establish a colony in the New World. The expedition, led by Captain Philip Amadas and Master Arthur Barlowe, left England with two ships piloted by veteran Portuguese navigator in 1584. After anchoring, the explorers went ashore in boats to view and take possession of the "lande next adjoyning" for Queen Elizabeth I and their patron, Raleigh. Barlowe's journal provides an almost lyrical description of the land and its exploration[2].

In addition to extolling the natural bounty and beauty of the coastal region, Barlowe sympathetically portrayed the Algonquian Indians whom the Englishmen soon encountered and with whom they began to trade. The wide-ranging information acquired by Amadas and Barlowe gave Raleigh and his associates sufficient encouragement to continue their plans to establish the first English colony in America in 1585. Thomas Harriot (Hariot or Harriott), explorer, navigational expert, mathematician, scientist, and astronomer, participated in the mentioned Raleigh's expeditions to America. Hariot and the expedition artist John White explored and mapped the area around Roanoke, carrying out Raleigh’s request that they present him with both textual and visual depictions of the settlement and its surroundings.
 
Although Raleigh was principally interested in the types of commodities of Virginia Indians of Tsenacomoco, particularly potentially valuable ones, available in the Virginia colony, he also charged Hariot and White with representing the exotic local flora and fauna, appearance, character, and practices of the Indians they met.
 
Returning home, Harriot gathered his remaining notes and prepared for publication the first English treatise on the New World. This book, published in February 1588 exists in only eight copies but remains one of the most important early accounts of the country as it was first seen by the English settlers. It attracted immediate attention and in the year 1589 Theodore de Bry (1528-1598), artist-engraver, issued elaborate editions in Latin, English, French, and German, adding plates of twenty-one of John White's drawings of the new land and the Indians, for which Harriot wrote headnotes. It’s important to emphasise, that de Bry had passed away at the time the present cabinet was created, accordingly can’t be considered as one of the authors of that object and its compositions (as was mentioned in the description text provided by the museum website). De Bry’s engravings were circulating across Europe long after his death, subsequently, that was Pieter Schenck the elder (Dutch, 1660-ca. 1718, engraver and cartographer active in Amsterdam and Leipzig, mentioned as an author), who took as the fundament the watercolours of Virginia Indians by Barlowe and White, revitalised by De Bry himself and created composite scenes later using them for the design of the Walters Museum cabinet. This statement becomes obvious through comparative analysis of the cabinet figures and the early English imagery-recordings from Virginia.
 
The depiction of the “Warrior of the Secotan Indians in North Carolina”- a watercolour painted by John White in 1585 (British Museum) most likely influenced the appearance and posture of one of the human figures from the scene with pagodas (Picture 3), that standing next to the Western-style-dressed figure. The female figure from the same scene who is facing the viewer with her frontal pose, and a child with a toy in his hand addressing to the female figure are interpretations from another watercolour authored by White (Picture 4), that portrays an indigenous woman carrying a jar or a basket with her child from the right (Engraving by Theodore de Bry after John White's watercolour, from Thomas Hariot’s “A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia” (1590)