Parchin kari: stone set into stone
Parchin kari is the Indian name for pietra dura — the art of cutting semi-precious stone into petals, leaves and vines and setting them flush into marble, so the seam disappears under your fingertip. It arrived with the Mughals, reached its height on the Taj Mahal, and never left Agra.
One: the marble
Most of our work starts as Makrana white marble, quarried in Rajasthan — the same stone used on the Taj. It is dense, close-grained and takes a polish that lasts. Black marble and soapstone come in for particular designs.
Two: cutting the stones
Malachite, lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise, abalone and mother of pearl are shaped against a bow-driven emery wheel. A single flower can take a dozen separately cut pieces, each shaped to fit only one position.
Three: the recess
The pattern is traced onto the marble and chiselled out by hand to the exact depth of the stone that will sit in it. There is no margin for correction — cut too deep and the piece is finished.
Four: setting and polishing
Each stone is set with a fine adhesive and the whole surface is ground back and polished together, so inlay and marble finish as one plane. Run your hand across a finished piece and you should not feel where one ends and the other begins.
Because every piece is worked by hand, no two are identical. Slight variation in veining, colour and stone placement is the signature of the craft, not a flaw.