Plate with floral motif

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 and idealized floral decoration typical of bidri objects, which were created through a complex casting, engraving, inlay, and chemical process. Although bidri ware was manufactured in some northern Indian cities, Bidar and nearby Hyderabad were the main areas of production and remain so today