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Madhubani art coasters hand-painted with Mithila motifs in filled colour inside bold outlines

Close view of a single Madhubani coaster showing the outlined motif and worked border ring

Madhubani Coasters

Curated by Prayatna

Rs. 599

Product Details

Mithila's motif vocabulary shrinks to the width of a teacup here, painted by hand across a set of coasters rather than reproduced by transfer. At this scale the craft works in its filled register: solid blocks of colour inside a bold outline, because fine line hatching would close up and blur. The Prayatna collective makes them. Set out on wood or glass, they read as a small, deliberate table.

Art TypeMadhubani

Dimension32X22X6

Materials & Care

Minor glaze and color variations are natural and add character. Handle with care. Wipe with a soft, damp cloth. Avoid harsh chemicals and prolonged direct sun exposure.

Product Disclosure

SKUPR-MDC-01

Style CodePR-MDC

HSN Code97030000

RegionNoida

StateUttar pradesh

Curated byPrayatna

Each piece is handcrafted, so slight variations in colour, texture and dimension are natural and celebrate its handmade origin.

ON THE TABLE: Coasters are the one craft object that gets handled every single day, which is the argument for buying painted ones rather than cork. Set them out as a group on a tray or a sideboard and the motifs read as one composition. Spread across a six-seat table they read as six separate small paintings, and both arrangements work.

HEAT AND MOISTURE: Treat these as decorative-first. A warm teacup is fine. A cup straight off the flame, or a chilled glass sweating for an hour, is not, because sustained heat and standing water are what lift a painted surface over time. Slide a saucer under anything very hot if the set matters to you.

WHAT THEY PAIR WITH: The palette is saturated and high in contrast, so it wants a quiet surface under it. Plain wood, unglazed stone, undyed linen. On a printed tablecloth the motifs and the print argue, and the coaster loses because it is smaller.

CARE WHILE IN USE: Wipe with a soft, damp cloth after use and dry the face rather than leaving it to air. Do not soak them, run them under a tap, or put them in a dishwasher. Keep the set out of long direct sun, which fades painted colour faster than handling does.

AS A GIFT: A coaster set is the rare gift that is used the week it arrives, which makes it a reliable griha pravesh, Diwali or corporate choice. It carries no sizing risk and no colour-matching risk. Confirm the set count on the specifications before you buy it for a fixed table.

1. THE PROBLEM OF SIZE: Madhubani began on the mud walls of Mithila homes, worked at the scale of a room. A wall gives a painter space for a full narrative: a pond, a wedding chamber, a tree with birds in it. A coaster gives roughly nine centimetres. The first decision is not what to paint but what to leave out.

2. CHOOSING THE REGISTER: The craft has two broad registers. Kachni is fine line hatching, built from hundreds of parallel strokes; Bharni fills the enclosed shapes with flat, solid colour. At coaster size Kachni closes up, the strokes merge, and the surface turns muddy from arm's length. Filled work survives the shrink, which is why coasters across this craft look bolder than the paintings do.

3. THE OUTLINE: The motif is set down as a closed contour first, usually a single creature or a single symmetrical device rather than a scene. A fish, a peacock, a sun, a lotus. Symmetry does real work at this scale, because a coaster is viewed from every side of a table and has no fixed top.

4. FILLING AND THE EMPTY-SPACE RULE: Madhubani leaves no ground blank. Once the shape is filled, the surround is worked with dots, cross-hatch or a running border until the empty area is gone. On a round face that border becomes a ring, which is the detail most obviously missing from transfer-printed imitations.

5. SEALING: The painted face is sealed so it can meet a wet glass. That seal is what separates a usable coaster from a small painting, and it is also the layer that sustained heat eventually damages.

Are these Madhubani art coasters hand-painted or printed?

These Madhubani art coasters are painted by hand rather than transfer-printed or decoupaged. The tell is the border: hand-worked pieces carry a filled surround that varies slightly from coaster to coaster, while decoupage repeats one image with a visible paper edge. Expect small differences across the set.

How many coasters come in the set?

Check the set count in the product specifications before ordering, as the listing does not state it in the description. Comparable Madhubani sets are sold in fours and sixes. Confirm it if you are buying for a table of a fixed size.

What are the Madhubani coasters made of?

The base material of these Madhubani coasters is given in the product specifications rather than in the description, and it is worth checking before you buy. Sets in this craft are commonly built on wood or on a sealed composite board. The painted face is what carries the craft either way.

Can I put a hot cup on them?

A hot cup of tea is fine, but a vessel straight off the flame is not. Sustained high heat softens a sealed painted surface and will eventually mark it. Use a saucer under anything very hot.

What happens if they get wet?

Brief contact with a wet glass is what these are made for, since the painted face is sealed. Standing water is the problem: do not soak them, run them under a tap, or put them through a dishwasher. Wipe with a damp cloth and dry the face afterwards.

Why do these cost more than the wooden coasters sold online for Rs 250?

Most wooden coasters at the Rs 230 to Rs 500 level carry a printed or decoupaged Madhubani image, reproduced identically across every unit. Painting each face by hand is slower by orders of magnitude, and that time is the difference in price. Hand-painted sets across this craft sit in the Rs 400 to Rs 1,750 band.

What do the motifs on the coasters mean?

The motifs come from the Mithila repertoire, where the fish stands for abundance and fertility, the peacock for beauty and monsoon, the lotus for purity, and the sun for life. Coaster-scale work favours one creature or one symmetrical device per face. The meanings travel with the object, which is part of why the set gifts well.

Do Madhubani tea coasters work as a gift?

Madhubani tea coasters are among the easier craft gifts to give because they are used immediately and carry no sizing or fit risk. The auspicious motifs suit a griha pravesh, a wedding or a Diwali hamper. They also scale for corporate gifting, subject to lead time.

Do these coasters carry a GI tag?

Madhubani painting holds a GI registration granted in 2007, verifiable at ipindia.gov.in/gi, but that registration covers the painting tradition and not every object the style is applied to. This set is not sold as a GI certified item. Read the registration as context for the craft rather than a certificate for this product.

How do I clean them?

Clean them with a soft, damp cloth and dry the painted face straight after. Avoid harsh chemicals, scouring and alcohol-based sprays, all of which strip a sealed surface. Store them out of long direct sun between uses.

Will every coaster in the set look identical?

No, and that is the point of a hand-painted coaster. Line weight, fill density and the border ring vary from face to face because each one is drawn separately. Sets where all faces match exactly are usually printed.

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Madhubani Art

Madhubani painting is a traditional art form from Bihar's Mithila region, created using natural pigments and handmade brushes. It features bold outlines, vibrant colors, intricate depictions of nature and mythology.

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