Wooden Surahi Set with Two Cups and Tray

About this piece

Wooden Surahi Set with Two Cups and Tray — A two-foot lacquered surahi with two cups on a turned tray. Made by hand from sheesham (rosewood) and coloured lac and finished in naqshi lac, the pattern scratched back through the colour, in the Sillanwali Handicrafts workshop in Sillanwali, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It measures 2 feet tall, 14 in tray. It costs PKR 7,000 for the whole set. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

A surahi turned from sheesham and finished in lac, standing two feet tall with a domed lid and finial, a long curved spout and a full handle, on a turned tray with two matching cups. It is the old drawing-room shape, made at a size that fills a corner rather than hiding on a shelf. The body, the neck, the lid and the cups are each turned on the khraad from solid wood, and the lac is melted onto them by friction while they spin, layer over layer, until the surface carries its own depth. The spout and the handle are shaped separately by hand and fitted to the body — the part that decides whether a surahi looks right or looks heavy. It is made for a console, the corner of a drawing room, an entrance or a shop counter, and it is the kind of piece given at a wedding or a house opening, where something has to be large enough to be noticed. It is decorative: the surahi and the cups are for display, not for drinking from. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and turned individually, so colour and grain vary between sets. Dust with a soft dry cloth, keep water and polish sprays off the lac, and keep it out of direct sunlight so the colour stays true.

Every piece is made by hand, so the wood grain, carving and colour vary a little from the photo. That variation is normal and is what makes each one its own.