FOUR BIDRI SILVER AND COPPER-INLAID CHARPAI LEGS Bidar, Deccan, Central India, 18th century Comprising four legs of Indian charpai(a traditional handwoven bed), shaped as flower blossoms on squared base, rising from the central bud a squared structure, pierced on two sides to accommodate the sticks of the bed, the latter two sides full, the top worked as a blossoming floral bud with lush petals all around, the body clad in copper and silver inlay laid out in a diamond-shaped grid of stylised flower heads, drop-like pattern to the base, 25cm high. These charpailegs share a number of similarities with a set of what Zebrowski calls "the slaves of the carpet" (i.e. carpet weights), also known asmir-i farsh (Mark Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, p. 131). Indeed, in the Krishna Riboud Collection, there is a set of carpet weights from Bidar, dating to the early 18th century, with exactly the same inlaid diamond-grid floral pattern as ours(ibidem, fig. 160). Moreover, the lower body of our charpai legs, designed as a blossoming flower surrounded by a multitude of petals and standing on a squared base, is virtually the same ofthe Riboud Collection mir-i farsh, showing the fluidity of motifs and designs on items with different uses.