In our upcoming gallery exhibition, “ON TOPS,” we display a number of purpose-made pieces, where table bases of later construction were made specifically to suit their special tops.
Tabletop Inset with Parchin Kari Panels
One such center table to be exhibited comprises a specially constructed base (circa 1840) designed in the manner of English architect Richard Bridgens, and a top made from two 17th-century parchin kari panels. Parchin Kari is the Mughal word for pietre dure (or “hardstones”). The most famous building to feature this technique is the Taj Mahal, the finest example of Mughal architecture.