Bidri ware

The name comes from Bidar, a town in Karnataka, where craftsmen started making Bidri ware during the Mughal era. With its origin in Persia, the wares basically involve silver/brass inlays on copper-zinc alloy base. Quite naturally, the more the inlays, costlier the ware. While earlier this was used to decorate swords and weapons, later it brought under its gamut domestic items like vase, plate, goblet etc.

……a bidri ashtray that I bought at Kalanjali, Hyderabad……