'Jauhar' Tray in Metal

Provenance

The Jauhar tray belongs to the North Indian decorated metalware tradition — the craft practice of applying ornamental surface decoration to metal forms through painting and lacquering. The tradition is rooted in the metalware workshops of Uttar Pradesh, particularly the long-established craft centres of Moradabad and surrounding areas, where metal has been worked and decorated for domestic and ceremonial use since the Mughal period.

The jewel-motif surface on Jauhar draws from the vocabulary of Indian ornamental jewellery — the faceted gem, the kundan setting, the geometric forms of the jeweller's art translated to a flat decorative surface. Jauhar in Persian and Urdu names the inner quality of precious things — the jewel itself, but also the essential excellence of any fine object, its underlying worth that manifests in surface quality. The jewel motif on this decorative metal tray translates the concentrated luminosity of the gemstone to the painted surface of a daily object.

Each tray is individually handcrafted with a painted surface; print placement and colour tone may vary slightly between pieces as a natural feature of the process.

Disclaimer

• These pieces are handcrafted in metal with a painted surface. Variations in colour tone and print placement are natural features of the process.
• Minor surface imperfections are characteristic of handcrafted work and are not defects.