A Polychrome Decorated Tripod Table

Dera Ismail Khan, Punjab, India, circa 1880 The circular top supported on a turned baluster column with a central ball with three bobbin turned legs. The whole table lacquered in red, white and black with incised decoration and pierced bone mounts. Some losses and wear. The table can be dismantled with each element having an integral threaded wooden screw.

It is most likely that the offered table is in fact a Hookah stand. The exaggerated reach of the legs and the ability to dismantle it suggests a more temporary use than a day to day piece of furniture. The following description shows how highly such work was appreciated at the time.

"The lac turnery, carried on at Dera Ismail Khãn, is of considerable artistic merit, and is applied to larger articles than is usual in this class of work, the small round tables being well-known. The general tone of colour is subdued and almost sombre, red, black, and dark green, relieved by a little grey, being the principal colours, with ornaments in amalgam, which have the effect of dull silvery lines. The pattern is always inscribed with a style, and in certain parts the lines are filled with amalgam. Ivory and camel-bone ornaments in the shape of knobs, studs, and flowers are liberally employed."

From the 'Imperial Gazetteer of Indian' 1908

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.120381/page/n1/mode/2up?q=turnery

The further images above also show a piece of Dera Ismail Khan work in the form of a domed and decorated box in the foreground to the right of the photo. This is in the V&A collections (Accession number 3185-1930)