Indian Pietra Dura Table Top with Geometric Swirl Motif

Overlapping arcs of cream and green spin outward from a dark red center, like a flower drawn with a compass.

This pietra dura table top with geometric swirl motif comes from Rajasthan, India, and is contemporary work in hardstone. In pietra dura each shape is cut from stone and fitted by hand, so sweeping curves like these are among the more demanding things a workshop can attempt. Intersecting arcs of cream stone and veined dark green build a rosette of pointed petals around a deep red disc. A thin green band frames the center, and a broad green border rings the edge. It is 30 inches in diameter and 1 inch high.

A spirograph, if the spirograph had worked in stone.