Plate

In South Asian courtly settings, elaborately decorated plates were often used for serving food and drink. They were also used in smoking ensembles that would have included a water pipe base. Many South Asian paintings from the seventeenth century and later depict water pipes and associated implements resting on circular plates.

This plate displays the regularly spaced floral decoration typical of objects called Bidri ware, which were created through a complex casting, engraving, inlay, and chemical process. Although Bidri ware was manufactured in some northern Indian cities, the main production centers were, and still are, in south central India.