Maharaja Chair in Carved Teak with Gold Damask and Lion Arms

Two lion heads facing each other across a seat have to match, and matching them is harder than carving either one. Carve them from two separate offcuts and the grain in each runs its own way: one mane catches the light along its length, the other across it, and even with identical modelling the pair looks off.

Our carver takes both heads from one billet, split down the middle. The two halves are then worked as mirror images - not copies, mirrors - so the grain runs outward from the centre line of the chair on both sides at once. A highlight that falls along the left mane falls the same way along the right.

Working as mirrors also means the two are carved in the same session, alternating between them rather than finishing one and then trying to reproduce it from memory. Depth of eye socket, set of the brow, the fall of the mane: each is cut on one head and immediately on the other, while the hand still knows the cut.

Nobody buying the chair thinks about the billet it came from. They just see two lions that clearly belong to each other.

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

Back: arched panel, deep-buttoned, set within a carved and moulded surround.

Posts: turned finials rising from both back posts, turned from the post timber itself.

Arms: upholstered tops with carved lion heads at the fronts, both taken from a single split billet and carved as mirror images.

Apron: deeply pierced and carved across the full width of the front and along both sides.

Legs: carved front legs with scrolled feet.

Upholstery: gold damask with matching bolster cushion as photographed.

Joinery: mortise and tenon throughout, corner-blocked at the seat rails.

Finish: hand-laid antique gold; silver, ebonised, walnut and natural teak also available.

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

The finials and the lion heads are the two things most likely to catch on a doorway, and both are protected before anything else. Each finial is capped in shaped foam; each lion head is padded around its full profile so no pressure lands on the carved brow or muzzle.

The damask is wrapped in soft non-abrasive sheeting laid on rather than pulled tight, so the weave and the buttoning are not compressed under the layers above.

Over that go bubble wrap, a corrugated shell and an outer crate cut to the chair's full width. The pierced apron is packed with its openings filled rather than bridged, so strapping tension bears on solid material and not across a fret.

Unpacking is done from the top: cut the strapping, lift the shell away, take the wrap down in order, and free the finial caps last so the chair is not carried by them at any stage.

Delivery is free across India and the chair is guaranteed to arrive dent-free. Any transit damage is our cost to correct, and we commit to that before you order rather than after.

The chair is made to order, so production begins when the fabric, the finish and the dimensions are confirmed in writing. We share the timeline at that point and update you as carving, gilding and upholstery complete.

Dispatch waits until the hand-laid finish has cured fully. Tracking is sent as soon as the crate leaves us and our team agrees the delivery window with you directly.

Please check the chair with the delivery team present when the crate is opened. A maharaja chair is wide as well as tall, so send us your doorway, lift and stair measurements at the order stage and we build to dimensions that clear your route in.

The solid teak frame and its joinery are warranted for 20 years. A chair this wide puts real load across the seat rails, and it is exactly that structure - the timber and the joints - which the warranty stands behind.

Running with it is a lifetime warranty against termite damage, backed by teak's own oil content rather than by any applied treatment. We issue it as a written undertaking with the chair.

Both documents are tied to your order and handed over on delivery, so the record stays with you. If a covered fault shows up, photographs come first and we then arrange repair or replacement of the affected part.

Damask, buttoning and the hand-laid gold are surfaces that wear and are handled separately from the structure, but we re-cover and re-gild our own chairs at any point in their life. Your specification is held on file so a later re-cover can match the original exactly.