Teak Round Dining Table with Carved Apron and Pedestal Base

This table took our karigars longer than anything else on the floor this year and the reason is the nakkashi. Flat carving on a straight board they do with their eyes closed. Carving a running flower pattern around a curved apron so it meets itself at the back with no visible join is the slow part and then the same again on a round pillar and a shaped base.

Where The Time Went

The Apron

The band under the top is carved the full way round, leaves and flowers in deep relief, with an egg and dart edge running above it. Because the table is a circle there is no back to it, every seat faces carving.

The Pillar And The Base

The pedestal is one piece, acanthus leaves rising from the bottom and turned rings above. It stands on a shaped square base with the same flower work on all 4 faces and a lion paw at each corner. The paws were the last thing finished and the first thing every visitor to the shop bends down to check.

Round Versus The Usual Long Table

A round top on a single pedestal means no one's knee is hitting a table leg and the dal and the sabzi sit in the middle where everybody can reach without asking somebody to pass. For a family that eats together this matters more than the extra seat a long table gives you. When Sunday lunch grows, the round shape takes an odd chair from the balcony without looking wrong, a long table with 6 matched chairs and 1 plastic one always looks like what it is. The carving is meant to be seen, so if it goes in a corner half of it faces the wall and you will see it only when you move house.