'Zeenat' Tray in Metal

Provenance

The Zeenat tray belongs to the North Indian decorated metalware tradition — a craft practice of applying surface ornament to metal forms to produce objects that serve daily life while carrying decorative weight. The technique combines a metal base with a painted or lacquered surface print, sealed to produce a waterproof, durable finish. North Indian metalware centres — particularly Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, which has been a centre of metal craft production since the Mughal period — have long combined the skills of the metal worker with the decorative vocabulary of the painter and printer.

The painted surface on Zeenat draws from the ornamental tradition of North Indian decorative art — the multicolour print vocabulary that characterises the decorated objects made for daily domestic and ceremonial use. Zeenat in Arabic and Urdu names adornment itself: the quality of beauty applied to something, the decoration that makes an object more than merely functional. The name holds the principle that ornamenting a daily object is an act of intention — that the decorative metal tray brought to the table deserves the same care as the objects placed upon it.

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.