Carving a Rose in the Round
A rose is one of the harder motifs to carve in wood, which is why most furniture that claims one delivers a flat spiral in relief. A convincing rose needs petals that separate from each other and curl back, and that means cutting behind the petal rather than only into the surface. The carver has to remove material from underneath while leaving the petal above it unsupported, working with a chisel in a space he can barely see into. Each rose on this bed, at the crown and at the foot, is cut this way from solid teak, and it is the single slowest component of the build.
The gold goes on afterwards, by hand and in stages. It is worked into the undercuts and the deep recesses first, then burnished back on the raised petals and scrolls, so the finish is brighter where light would naturally hit and darker where shadow would sit. A sprayed uniform gold does the opposite, flattening carving into a shiny mass. The white panels are then buttoned in with crystal fittings, which are set last so the upholstery is not marked while the frame is being finished. All of it is done by master Indian artisans, and the photographs on this page show the actual piece.