Naqshi Wall Clock

About this piece

Naqshi Wall Clock — hand-painted clock face and bezel. Made by hand from sheesham (rosewood) and glass and finished in naqshi lac, the pattern scratched back through the colour, in the Sillanwali Handicrafts workshop in Sillanwali, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It measures 24 in across. It costs PKR 5,500. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

A twenty-four inch wall clock with the bezel painted by hand in naqshi patterns around a clear dial. Made in red and blue, in teal, and in purple. The bezel is the piece. It is turned as a ring, given its ground colour in lac, and then cut back with the sathrī, the iron tool that opens the furrow, so the pattern runs unbroken all the way round — with no start and no finish visible, which on a closed circle takes more judgement than on a panel where the pattern can simply stop at an edge. The dial sits behind glass at the centre and is deliberately left plain, because a patterned bezel and a patterned face fight each other and the time stops being readable. At twenty-four inches it is a wall piece rather than a clock you glance at from a desk. Each colourway changes the room differently: the red and blue reads warm and traditional, the teal reads cooler and more modern, the purple is the one people buy when the wall is already neutral. It runs on a single AA battery and hangs from one hook. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and painted individually, so no two bezels carry the same pattern. 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.