Banquet Dining Table Set in Carved Teak with Scroll Back Chairs

The joint that fails first in any dining set is the one between the seat rail and the back leg, and it fails for a reason that has nothing to do with sitting.

It is dragging. Every time a loaded chair is pulled sideways rather than lifted, the whole force goes through that joint as a twist. Do it three times a day for twenty years and even a well-cut mortise and tenon will work loose, because glue in a joint under repeated racking eventually gives.

So on a set this size we drawbore the tenons. The mortise is cut, the tenon fitted, and then a peg hole is bored through both - but the hole in the tenon is offset by a fraction of a millimetre toward the shoulder. When the tapered peg is driven, it cannot line up with both holes unless the tenon is pulled deeper into the mortise, so the peg forces the joint tight as it goes home.

The result is a joint held mechanically as well as by glue. If the glue ever tires, the peg is still doing its work - and unlike glue, the peg can be driven out, the joint cleaned and re-pegged decades later.

It is an old technique and a slow one, and it is the reason a well-made chair outlives the person who bought it.

Set: one banquet dining table with ten chairs including carvers, made together as one commission.

Frames: solid teak throughout, hand-carved by master Indian artisans.

Top: long, with a gold-banded border, an inset centre and a moulded edge.

Legs: carved columns with acanthus capitals.

Chairs: scroll backs rolling outward at the top, upholstered with tasselled details, on sabre back legs.

Joinery: mortise and tenon throughout, with drawbored pegs at the seat rail to back leg joints so the peg pulls the joint tight and holds it mechanically as well as by glue.

Upholstery: gold-worked ivory cloth as photographed; any fabric or leather available.

Finish: hand-applied ivory and gold; other tones available.

Dimensions: custom sizes made to order - final measurements confirmed in writing before production.

Eleven pieces travel as eleven crates. Chairs are never nested - with ten of them, a scroll back resting on an upholstered seat is a risk multiplied tenfold.

The scroll tops are the widest part of each chair and are padded around their full roll; the sabre back legs, which project rearward, are padded along their length. Tasselled details are bagged separately so nothing pulls on them.

A long top is the most vulnerable piece in a set this size. It travels face-protected with a rigid board across its full surface, edge-protected along its whole perimeter, with additional corner protection and extra support along the length so it cannot flex.

Unpack the chairs first so there is floor space, then the table - which needs several people. Nothing needs dismantling and no fixing has to be undone.

Delivery is free anywhere in India for the whole set, and every piece is guaranteed to arrive dent-free. If anything is wrong when the crates are opened, correcting it is our cost, and we commit to that before you order.

Production begins once the table length, chair and carver count, upholstery and finish are confirmed in writing. Ten chairs and a table are made together and dispatched together so the finishes match across the whole set.

Dispatch waits for the hand-applied finish to cure fully. We update you as each stage completes and send tracking as soon as the crates leave us.

Open every crate with the delivery team present and check each piece. A banquet-length top is the hardest item in our catalogue for access, so send us your doorway, lift, stair and turning measurements at the enquiry stage - we would rather plan the length around your route than deliver a table that cannot reach the room.

Every frame in the set carries a 20-year warranty on solid teak frame and joinery - the table and all ten chairs on identical terms. The drawbored joints are the heart of what that warranty covers.

A lifetime warranty against termite damage runs on every piece, resting on teak's own oils rather than on an applied treatment, and issued in writing with the set.

Both documents are tied to your order and handed over on delivery. If a covered fault appears on one chair, send photographs and we repair or replace that chair alone rather than asking for ten pieces back.

Upholstery and hand-applied finishes are wearing surfaces and are handled separately. A drawbored joint can also be driven out, cleaned and re-pegged decades later rather than replaced, which is a repair we are glad to carry out on our own furniture at any age.