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A wooden serving tray, hand-painted in Madhubani. The folk art of Mithila, in Bihar, worked here on wood instead of its usual handmade paper. Motifs are drawn in the double outline that marks the tradition, then filled by hand and sealed to survive real use.
Painted by artisans in the Madhubani cluster, supported by the HCL Foundation. Carry tea on it, or let it hold keys and trinkets by a door. A considered gift that keeps a living craft close. See the specifications for exact wood and dimensions.
Each piece may vary slightly due to handcrafted processes. Handle with care. Clean according to material—spot clean fabrics, wipe ceramics with a damp cloth.
Each piece is handcrafted, so slight variations in colour, texture and dimension are natural and celebrate its handmade origin.
A tray earns its keep by being useful and good to look at. This one does both. Set it on a coffee table with two cups, a small bowl of something sweet, and a folded napkin, and an ordinary afternoon tea quietly becomes a little occasion worth sitting down for. Lay it on a sideboard as a landing spot for keys, glasses, and the day's post.
Think of it in two modes. For serving, keep the load light and dry: cups, a teapot, biscuits, dry snacks. The painted surface is sealed, but it is art before it is kitchenware, so it is happiest away from oil, standing water, and a hot pan straight off the flame. For decor, let it hold a candle, a few shells, or a short stack of books.
Placement rewards a little restraint. Against a plain wood or stone surface, the motifs read clearly. On a busy printed cloth, they get lost. It is a small centrepiece, not a filler.
It suits a gift, too. Give it and you give the craft. In the gifting collection it reads as generous without being fussy, the kind of present that works for a housewarming, a wedding, or Diwali. Pair it with loose tea or a set of coasters for a ready-made hamper.
Care while using is simple. Wipe with a soft, dry or barely damp cloth. Do not soak it, do not scrub the paint, and keep it out of long direct sun so the colours stay true. Treated gently, a sealed hand-painted tray lasts for years.
Madhubani, also called Mithila painting, began on mud walls and handmade paper in the villages of north Bihar. Putting it on a wooden tray asks the same hands to solve a different problem: how to keep a wall-and-paper art intact on an object that will be picked up, set down, and wiped clean. The answer lies in the preparation and the sealing, as much as in the painting. Not the brush alone.
Preparing the surface: the bare wooden tray is sanded smooth and primed so paint will hold evenly. Wood is not paper. Paper drinks pigment, but sealed wood does not, so the ground is readied to behave more like a controlled canvas. Only then does drawing begin.
Drawing the design: the artisan sketches the composition freehand, then sets the signature double outline that defines Madhubani. Every figure is bordered by two fine parallel lines. Nothing is left blank for long, since Madhubani has always disliked bare space and fills every gap with vines, dots, cross-hatch, and small creatures until the whole surface seems to hum.
Filling the colour: within those outlines the work goes one of two ways. In the Bharni style, forms are filled with solid colour. In the Kachni style, they are shaded with fine hatched lines. On a tray, artisans typically use acrylic colours rather than old mineral and plant pigments, because acrylics bond to wood and take handling.
The motifs: Mithila motifs are rarely just decorative. Fish stand for fertility and plenty, peacocks for love, the lotus for purity, and interlaced birds and foliage for a thriving household. The specific motifs on this tray sit at its centre, framed by a patterned border. Check the product images for the exact design.
Sealing for use: once the paint is fully dry, the tray is coated with a clear varnish. This step turns a painting into a usable object, guarding the colour against wipes, light, and the small knocks of daily life. The finish is what separates a genuine hand-painted tray from a printed one. That last coat is everything.
The making is slow. A single tray can take a skilled hand a day or more, every outline set and every shape filled line by patient line before the varnish is ever allowed to touch it. What you receive is not a print of Madhubani but the craft itself, carried onto something you can actually use.
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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.
