Lacquer Table Lamps — Simple Work (Pair)

About this piece

Lacquer Table Lamps — Simple Work (Pair): A pair of plain amber lamps, lightly worked. Made by hand from sheesham (rosewood) and coloured lac and metal base and fittings and plainly polished, in the Sillanwali Handicrafts workshop in Sillanwali, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It costs PKR 8,000 for the pair — two matching pieces. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

A pair of lamps in plain lac-turnery: amber bodies carrying only light cut work, each on a turned foot with a brass-toned fitting. This is not a stripped-back version of the worked lamps — it is a technique with its own name. Plain lac-turnery, jandrī kā kām, is the oldest branch of the craft: colour laid on the turning wood and burnished, with the surface left to carry the depth of the lac rather than a pattern cut through it. The body is turned on the khraad and the battī, the coloured lac stick, is pressed against it while it spins so the friction melts the colour on. A few lines are then opened with the sathrī — enough to show that the surface is lac over wood and not a sprayed finish. Where the grain runs dense the amber darkens through it, which on a fully worked lamp is hidden under the pattern. Buy this pair for a room that already has a lot in it, or for lamps that sit where the eye passes rather than rests — a hallway, a guest room, either side of a bed facing a busy wall. Sold as a pair, worked in the same run so the amber matches. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha. Dust with a soft dry cloth, keep water and polish sprays off the lac, and keep them out of direct sunlight so the amber does not fade.

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.