Lattice-Carved Nesting Table Set (4 Pieces)

About this piece

Lattice-Carved Nesting Table Set (4 Pieces) — four tables with open lattice carving and a rosette centre. Made by hand from sheesham (rosewood) and carved by hand, in the Sillanwali Handicrafts workshop in Sillanwali, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It costs PKR 15,500. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

Four stacking tables whose tops are cut right through in an open lattice, with a carved rosette at the centre of each. Cutting through is a different discipline from carving into. Once a top is pierced there is no material left to correct a slip, and every strand of the lattice has to stay strong enough to carry weight after the waste is removed — which is why the pattern is laid out so the open work never runs unbroken across the full width. The rosette at the centre is carved in relief and left solid, both as an anchor for the lattice and as the place the eye settles. Left in a natural polish with no stain over it, the piece reads as shadow rather than colour, and the lattice throws a pattern of its own onto whatever is underneath — a rug, a floor, the table below it in the stack. That shadow changes through the day as the light moves, which is something a solid top cannot do. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and pierced individually. Dust with a soft dry cloth and use a dry brush through the lattice; keep water, polish sprays and chemical cleaners off the wood, and keep it out of direct sunlight and standing heat.

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.