Square Mirror in Gilded Teak with Corner Rosettes and a Punched Ground

The background of this frame has been hit, deliberately, thousands of times.

Punching a ground is an old goldsmith's habit that carvers borrowed. A small steel punch with a shaped tip is struck against the recessed background of the carving, over and over, until the whole surface carries a fine, even pitting. It is slow, repetitive work and it is done before any gilding goes on.

The reason is what happens afterwards. Gold on a smooth surface reflects light in one direction, like a mirror. Gold on a punched surface scatters it in every direction, so the ground reads as a soft, dense glow. Set the two side by side - burnished leaves against a matted background - and the carving appears to lift further off the frame than its actual depth would allow. The relief is exaggerated by light rather than by cutting deeper.

It also means the frame keeps working in a dim room. When there is not much light to catch, a scattered ground still gathers what there is, while a polished one simply goes dark.

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

Structure: square jointed frame with a plate rebate; carved scroll border and corner rosettes; beaded slip around the opening.

Surface: recessed ground hand-punched to a fine matt texture before gilding; raised carving burnished bright.

Finish: gold gilding as photographed. Silver, ivory, champagne, black with gold and natural teak available.

Plate: plain mirror glass as shown; bevelled plate available on request.

Hanging: concealed fixings supplied and rated for the finished weight; sets made to matching dimensions on request.

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

Photography: images on this page are photographs of the actual product, not renders.

Corner rosettes stand proud of the frame at its four most exposed points, which is precisely where a crate takes its knocks. They are packed for first.

Each rosette and the outermost scrolls are capped with shaped foam before any general wrapping goes on, so the corners of the package are cushioned well outside the carving itself.

The plate is faced with film and backed with a cut board so the glass carries no load, and the beaded slip is protected along its full run because it is the finest moulding on the piece.

The mirror then goes into laminated foam, bubble wrap and a fitted wooden crate, marked for orientation. Where a set is ordered, each piece is crated separately rather than stacked. Multi-layer protective packaging is standard and dent-free arrival is guaranteed.

Free delivery anywhere in India is included in the price - no freight charge, no distance loading, no surcharge for a smaller town. That applies to a set as much as to a single mirror.

Production begins once your size, plate, ground treatment and finish are confirmed in writing. You get a realistic production window then and updates as the piece moves through carving, punching, gilding and crating.

The shipment is tracked and our team stays reachable throughout. Dent-free arrival is guaranteed and it is ours to honour.

Tell us about any access limitation when you order and we plan the crating and route around it before the piece leaves the workshop.

The solid teak frame and its joinery carry a 20-year Brown Rabbit warranty - the square frame, its corner joints, the plate rebate and the seating of the beaded slip.

A lifetime warranty against termite damage runs with the piece for as long as you own it, resting on teak's natural termite resistance and confirmed in writing.

The punched ground and the burnished highlights are both hand-worked, so no two frames carry identical texture. That is the nature of the technique and it is what gives each piece its own quality of light.

Written warranty terms are issued with your order, so the cover is agreed before we begin.