Naqshi Powder Box

About this piece

Naqshi Powder Box — A round lidded powder box in naqshi lac, with a turned finial. Made by hand from wood 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 3–5 in across. It costs PKR 1,200. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

A round lidded powder box with a small turned finial on top, worked in naqshi lac in red or in black with a gold border. Three sizes, from three inches across to five. It is naqshi work on wood, the same craft as everything else the workshop makes, at the smallest scale it is done. The box is turned on the khraad and the lac is melted onto it by friction while it spins — a battī, the coloured lac stick, pressed against the moving wood. Colour goes on lighter first and darker over it. The pattern is then cut back through those layers with the sathrī, the iron tool that opens the furrow, so every line you see is colour taken away rather than paint added on top. At three inches across there is no room for the tool to wander. The finial is turned as part of the lid rather than glued on, and the gold border is drawn round the lid and the base by hand. On a dressing table it holds face powder, rings, pins, studs and the small things that otherwise collect in a saucer. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and cut individually, so no two boxes carry the same border. Dust with a soft dry cloth, keep water and polish sprays off the lac, and keep it out of direct sunlight so the red or the black 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.