Naqshi Round Pedestal Green and Yellow Table

About this piece

Naqshi Round Pedestal Green and Yellow Table — A round lacquered top on a turned pedestal. Made by hand from sheesham (rosewood) and coloured lac and brass and finished in naqshi lac, the pattern scratched back through the colour, in the Sillanwali Handicrafts workshop in Sillanwali, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. It measures 16–18 in across. It costs PKR 4,000. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

A round occasional table turned on the khraad, with the top finished in layered lac and cut back by hand into a radiating naqshi pattern in green and yellow. The pedestal stem and the foot carry the same treatment. Made in sixteen and eighteen inch. Radiating is the natural pattern for a turned top and the reason these tables look the way they do. The piece is lacquered while it spins, colour over colour, and the sathrī — the iron tool that opens the furrow — is then brought in against the turning surface — so every line it opens is a circle or an arc struck from the centre. Green over yellow means the deepest cuts come up yellow and the shallow ones stay green, which is what gives the top its depth rather than reading as two flat colours. Brass detailing picks out the edge. The pedestal keeps the floor clear underneath, so it tucks against a sofa arm or beside a bed more easily than a four-legged table of the same diameter. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and cut individually, so no two tops match. Dust with a soft dry cloth, keep water and polish sprays off the lac, and keep it out of direct sunlight so the green and the yellow stay 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.