Naqshi Nesting Table Set — Orange (4 Pieces)

About this piece

Naqshi Nesting Table Set — Orange (4 Pieces): four stacking tables in orange lac naqshi. 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 costs PKR 14,000. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

Four stacking tables with tops finished in orange lac and cut back by hand in the naqshi style — naqqāshī, which is this town's own name for the technique, so the pattern is opened through the colour with the sathrī rather than painted onto it. A flat tabletop is the hardest surface in the workshop to work this way. On a turned piece the lathe carries the tool and the line comes out true on its own; on a flat top every line is drawn by hand, and the pattern has to be set out so the borders close squarely at four corners and the central medallion sits true to both axes. Get it wrong and there is no correcting it — the lac has to come off and the top starts again. On this set the orange runs deep and warm, with the pattern cut fine enough that the top reads as one worked panel rather than as separate motifs. The four step down in size and store inside each other, so the set puts a surface beside every chair when guests come and folds back into the footprint of one when they leave. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and cut individually, so no two tops carry the same pattern. Dust with a soft dry cloth, keep water and polish sprays off the lac, and keep the set out of direct sunlight so the orange 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.