Umar Khayyam Surahi Set

About this piece

Umar Khayyam Surahi Set — A surahi with cups on a matching tray. 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 4–6 in surahi. It costs PKR 7,500. It is ready to ship and delivered within 3 to 4 days anywhere in Pakistan, paid in cash on delivery.

The Umar Khayyam set: a lidded surahi with small cups, standing together on a round naqshi tray, all worked in red, green and gold lac. Three sizes, priced by the height of the surahi. Every part is turned and then cut back with the sathrī separately and then worked to agree — the tray, the surahi, the lid and each cup — which is the difficulty of a set like this. A tray is a flat spinning disc and takes a radiating pattern naturally; a surahi is a changing curve; a cup is small enough that the same band has to be cut at a fraction of the scale without losing its character. Holding one visual language across three different geometries is what separates a set from a group of matching objects. It is named for the poet, and it is bought as a display group rather than as tableware — a shelf, a console, a sideboard. The cups are decorative and are not sealed for liquid. Made in Sillanwali, Sargodha, and cut individually, so no two sets match. Dust with a soft dry cloth, keep water and polish sprays off the lac, and keep the set out of direct sunlight so the red and the green 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.