'Dhaval' Tea Box in Printed Wood

Provenance

The Dhaval tea box belongs to the North Indian tradition of decorative woodware — wooden forms treated with surface print and sealed under a waterproof lacquer. Each box is individually cut and worked in wood, its surface printed with a multicolour ornamental pattern on an ivory ground and sealed under resin. The tradition comes from workshops in Delhi NCR and western Uttar Pradesh, where the vocabulary of India's painted woodwork is adapted to contemporary domestic storage forms.

The ivory ground of Dhaval gives the surface print a different quality from the deeper-ground boxes in the Brahm range: the ornament sits in relief on the pale field, visible at a distance, warm from close range. The ivory palette — not cold white but the specifically warm, living paleness of aged materials — belongs to the Sanskrit aesthetic of shweta and dhaval, the two words for white that hold warmth rather than brightness. Dhaval in Sanskrit names a brilliant, luminous white — specifically the pure white of the conch shell, of fresh milk, of the white swan — a warmth-tinged whiteness that is the ground for the ornament laid above it.

The waterproof surface makes this decorative tea storage box suited to everyday counter use. Each piece is individually handcrafted; print placement and colour tone may vary slightly between pieces.

Disclaimer

• These pieces are handcrafted in wood with a printed surface. Variations in tone and colour are a natural feature of the process.
• Minor differences in print registration or surface texture should be understood as the signature of individual craft, not a defect.