Khatamkari is one of the Iranian inlay arts. The surface of wooden or metal items is decorated with cut pieces of wood, bone and metal in various shapes and designs.
The materials used in this craft can be gold, silver, brass, aluminum and twisted wire. It is known for its different inlay products and their quality, dimensions, and geometric methods. Smaller pieces result in a higher value of the artwork.
Khatam kari consists of the production of shell patterns (usually star-shaped) with thin wooden sticks (ebony, teak, ziziphus, orange, rose), brass (for the gold parts), camel bones (white pieces). Ivory, gold or silver can also be used for collectibles. These rods are joined into triangular beams, assembled and glued in a rigid order to form a geometric motif, such as a six-pointed star enclosed in a hexagon.
Sometimes the cylinders are cut into shorter cylinders and then compressed and dried between two wooden planks before being sliced a final time into 1mm wide slices. These units are ready to be coated and pasted on the object to be decorated before the polishing process is done.
