Hand Carved Wooden Bed in Teak - Lion Mask Headboard in Antique Gold

The lion mask is one of the oldest motifs in furniture, and it always sits in the same place: at the centre, facing out. Greek and Roman craftsmen used it on chests and door furniture, European carvers took it up again in the eighteenth century, and Indian workshops have carved it on temple doors and palace beds for just as long. It endures because a face at the centre of a symmetrical design gives the whole composition somewhere to resolve.

Carving one well is a different order of difficulty from carving a leaf. A leaf can be a little off and nobody notices; a face cannot. The eyes have to sit level, the muzzle has to project without undercutting itself into weakness, and the mane has to read as separate locks in low light. It is the piece of work a carver is judged on.

Our master Indian artisans cut this mask from the solid, working down into the same board as the cartouche around it rather than carving it separately and applying it. That is slower and it wastes more wood, and it is why the mask can never lift, crack away or loosen with age.

Material: Solid teak throughout, including headboard, footboard, rails and the bedside chests. No upholstery.

Headboard: Carved lion mask in a scrolled cartouche with bead-and-reel moulding, flowering vine and acanthus scrollwork across the full width, pierced crest.

Footboard: Central cartouche with carved rose bouquet, scrollwork to both corners, heavy carved volutes on claw-shaped feet.

Bedside chests: Two drawers each with carved fronts, moulded tops and carved feet. Included as shown, and available in any quantity.

Finish: Shown in soft antique gold, and available in natural teak tones, walnut, espresso, or gold on raised edges over a wood ground.

Centre motif: Lion mask as shown, and available as a floral rosette, a family crest or a carved initial instead.

Storage: Built plain as shown, and available with hydraulic lift-up storage or base drawers designed in.

Sizes: Custom sizes made to order - final measurements confirmed in writing before production.

All-over carving means there is no flat face to pack against, so this bed is packed to its own profile. The headboard is first covered in a soft non-abrasive layer that follows the vines and scrolls, then given foam blocks at every high point - the lion mask, the crest, the outer volutes - so pressure lands on the blocks and never on the carving itself.

The pierced sections of the crest are foam-faced from both sides. The footboard is packed the same way, with its claw feet individually collared, since feet take the knocks in any move.

Side rails are bundled and edge-guarded, and all fittings travel in a labelled pouch so no metal moves against carved teak. The chests go in with drawers secured and carved feet blocked.

It is then crated together with handling instructions marked outside. The layers are generous because a bed carved by hand over weeks deserves more than one sheet of wrap. Every photograph here is of the actual bed, taken before packing - not a render.

Delivery is free across India and included in the price you are quoted. No freight, packing or handling charge appears later, whatever the distance.

Production begins once your size, finish and centre motif are confirmed in writing. We give you a realistic timeline at that point and send photographs of your own bed as the carving progresses - the lion mask in particular is worth watching take shape.

On arrival the bed is carried in and assembled in your bedroom, with the headboard and footboard joined to the rails, everything levelled against your floor, and the bedside chests placed where you want them. We guarantee dent-free arrival, and if anything is not right when it reaches you, tell us and we will fix it.

The solid teak frame and joinery of this bed are covered for 20 years - the headboard, the footboard, the side rails and every joint between them. On an all-carved bed there is no upholstery hiding the structure, so the joinery has to be right and stay right, and that is what this warranty stands behind.

A lifetime warranty against termite damage runs alongside it for as long as the bed is yours, backed by teak's natural resistance and confirmed in writing rather than left as a general claim about the wood.

Because the carving is cut into solid timber, it can be worked on years from now: cleaned back, refinished in the same tone or a different one, and re-gilded if you want. Our own master Indian artisans do that work, using the specification of your exact bed which we keep on file, and we tell you what is involved and how long it takes before we begin. Fittings such as rail brackets, drawer runners and pulls are replaceable at any time.