This base for a huqqa, or water pipe, belongs to a class of Indian metalwork known as "bidri ware". The technique takes it name from the city of Bidar, in present day Karnataka, where it is thought to have originated. "Bidri" describes objects made from a high-zinc alloy and inlaid with silver or brass, or a combination of both, or overlaid with patterns of silver or brass wire hammered on to a cross-hatched ground. When the surface ornamentation is completed, the craftsman covers the object with a mud paste containing salt, ammonium chloride and unrefined potassium nitrate. When the paste is removed, the natural dull grey of the zinc alloy has changed colour to a deep, matt black which enhances, without altering, the brightness of the inlay. The earliest pieces of bidri to have survived date from the early 17th century, when production is thought to have been found only in centres such as Bidar and Hyderabad in the Deccan sultanates. These independent Muslim kingdoms in the south of India were conquered by the Mughal emperor Alamgir (r.1658-1707) in the second half of the 17th century. Their independent artistic styles then became heavily influenced by Mughal art, and techniques such as bidri spread beyond the Deccan. By the late 18th or early 19th century, when this piece was probably made, bidri was being produced in Purnea (Bihar) and perhaps also in Murshidabad (West Bengal).This huqqa base was collected by William Tayler, an East India Company civil servant working in the region from 1829 to 1859.