Black Marble Coaster Set of Six with Floral Inlay, 4in

The inlay work

Each of the six coasters carries a different flower, cut and set in the parchin kari technique that Mughal workshops brought to Agra in the seventeenth century and that Rajasthan's inlay families have kept alive since. The method starts subtractive. A shallow channel is chiselled into the polished stone to the exact outline of a petal or a leaf, then a sliver of pale stone (soft rose, sage green, pale buff) is ground to fit that channel and set flush, so the finished face is level enough to run a fingertip across without catching an edge. The flowers follow the Mughal garden vocabulary rather than a modern print: a single stem rising from the foot of the disc, leaves paired along it, one bloom open and one still in bud. Six discs, six plants, no two alike.

Why black marble

Black marble is the ground for this set because inlay needs a dark field to read against. It is a dense stone with a very fine grain, and it takes one of the deepest polishes in the natural-stone trade, deep enough that a pale petal set into it reads as though it were floating on the surface. That density is practical for something a cold glass sits on, and a wipe with a damp cloth clears condensation, wine or coffee. The stone is Bhainslana black marble, quarried in Rajasthan. The sculptors we work with cut all six discs from one slab, so the set shares a single continuous grain instead of being assembled from offcuts.

On the table

At four inches across, each coaster takes a tumbler, a wine glass or a teacup with a margin of stone around the base, and the set is meant to stay out on a dining table or a bar console rather than be put away between meals. The carved holder stands about the height of two stacked discs, its face cut with a pierced floral band, so the six read as one object when they are not in use. Weight does more work than it sounds like it should: a stone coaster stays on the table when the glass is lifted, which a cork or felt one rarely does. Care is short: wipe with a damp cloth and dry it, and keep lemon, vinegar and bathroom cleaners away, since acid dulls the polish and etches both the black marble and the inlay stones. Ask for felt pads on the underside if the set is going onto a lacquered or French-polished table.

Making it yours

The count is open: four for a small table, eight or twelve for a dining room that seats a crowd. So is the flower vocabulary, whether one repeated motif for a matched set, a run that steps through six different blooms, or a specific flower a family associates with a house. The same inlay carries onto a matching tray, table mats or a tissue box when the set goes out as a corporate order, and a name or a date can be laid into the holder in the same pale stone rather than engraved into it. Tell us the glassware you actually use and the sculptors and inlay artisans we work with will size the discs around it.