Indian Jewellery
Jewellery in India has been an unbroken tradition for over 8,000 years. Such is the skill of Indian jewelers that with time, the real flowers and leaves used by our ancestors inspired them to recreate the gifts of nature in gold and silver. The story of handcrafted Indian jewellery is long and absorbing. Inspired by nature, fueled by beauty and belief, it is an eternal process of artistic imagination and fine craftsmanship. From prehistoric ages to the present day, the craft of precious Indian jewellery is one of its kind in beauty and quality.
Early descriptions: The Ramayana and the Mahabharata abound in descriptions of ornaments. The code of Manu defines the duties of the goldsmith. By the 3rd century BC, India was the leading exporter of gemstones, particularly diamonds. Gold was usually imported into the country, a practice prevalent even during the Mughal period.
Significance and uses of jewellery: The craft of jewellery was given royal patronage right from the ancient times, since jewellery is much more than just a tool of aesthetic appeal, it is the symbol of divine abundance and material blessings. Jewellery, because of its easy convertibility into cash money, is regarded as an investment and security. Many nomadic and migrant tribal communities will therefore wear a plethora of ornaments. In several communities, women are excluded from land property inheritance. Thus, jewellery is a major component of the streedhana (drowry).
Different regions of India have unique styles of jewellery making:
Orissa and Andhra Pradesh: Filigree work in silver. Silver wires of varying thickness are shaped into floral or geometrical patterns, creating a delicate lace-like appearance
Jaipur: Enamelling or meenakar. These styles are influenced by the Mughal tradition, with very ornate floral patterns
Delhi: Temple jewellery and the setting of semi-precious stones in gold, Traditional gold ornaments studded with precious or semi-precious stones serve as offerings to Gods.
NE India: Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP: Silver beads and silver inlaid jewellery.
Hyderabad: Pearls have transited through this city from coastal regions of India as well as South-East Asia. The expertise in Hyderabad is in carving the delicate hole inside the pearl to allow its use on strings.
Assam: 24 carat gold modeled into traditional shapes, like eht hona (orchid) or the jokaparo (two birds placed back to back)
Nagaland: Gold is used to craft funnel shaped beads for combination with shells, animal claws and teeth, as well as precious and semi-precious stones
Tamil Nadu and Kerala: Nature-inspired gold motifs, like the ambi, rice grains, cobra’s hood, melon, cucumber seeds. Heavy bell-shaped earrings are also common.
Himachal Pradesh: Large silver ornaments, headdresses (chak), long earrings, large nose rings with papal leaf and bird motifs
Ladakh: Silver charm boxes and headdreasses (parak) with rows of turquoise, coral and agate.
Early descriptions: The Ramayana and the Mahabharata abound in descriptions of ornaments. The code of Manu defines the duties of the goldsmith. By the 3rd century BC, India was the leading exporter of gemstones, particularly diamonds. Gold was usually imported into the country, a practice prevalent even during the Mughal period.
Significance and uses of jewellery: The craft of jewellery was given royal patronage right from the ancient times, since jewellery is much more than just a tool of aesthetic appeal, it is the symbol of divine abundance and material blessings. Jewellery, because of its easy convertibility into cash money, is regarded as an investment and security. Many nomadic and migrant tribal communities will therefore wear a plethora of ornaments. In several communities, women are excluded from land property inheritance. Thus, jewellery is a major component of the streedhana (drowry).
Different regions of India have unique styles of jewellery making:
Orissa and Andhra Pradesh: Filigree work in silver. Silver wires of varying thickness are shaped into floral or geometrical patterns, creating a delicate lace-like appearance
Jaipur: Enamelling or meenakar. These styles are influenced by the Mughal tradition, with very ornate floral patterns
Delhi: Temple jewellery and the setting of semi-precious stones in gold, Traditional gold ornaments studded with precious or semi-precious stones serve as offerings to Gods.
NE India: Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP: Silver beads and silver inlaid jewellery.
Hyderabad: Pearls have transited through this city from coastal regions of India as well as South-East Asia. The expertise in Hyderabad is in carving the delicate hole inside the pearl to allow its use on strings.
Assam: 24 carat gold modeled into traditional shapes, like eht hona (orchid) or the jokaparo (two birds placed back to back)
Nagaland: Gold is used to craft funnel shaped beads for combination with shells, animal claws and teeth, as well as precious and semi-precious stones
Tamil Nadu and Kerala: Nature-inspired gold motifs, like the ambi, rice grains, cobra’s hood, melon, cucumber seeds. Heavy bell-shaped earrings are also common.
Himachal Pradesh: Large silver ornaments, headdresses (chak), long earrings, large nose rings with papal leaf and bird motifs
Ladakh: Silver charm boxes and headdreasses (parak) with rows of turquoise, coral and agate.
Tibetan jewellery
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average elevation of 4,900 m (16,000 ft). Tibetan representations of art are intrinsically bound with Tibetan Buddhism and commonly depict deities or variations of Buddha in various forms. Their jewellery makes ample use of turquoise, coral and silver.
Turquoise
Hardness and richness of colour are two of the major factors in determining the value of turquoise; while colour is a matter of individual taste, generally speaking, the most desirable is a strong sky to "robin's egg" blue.
The mother rock or matrix in which turquoise is found can often be seen as a network of brown or black veins running through the stone in a netted pattern; this veining may add value to the stone, if complimentary.
Coral
Corals are marine animals typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps" and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
It exhibits a range of warm reddish pink colors from pale pink to deep red. Coral trade has taken place for centuries between the Mediterranean and India, where it was highly esteemed as a substance endowed with mysterious sacred properties and many medicinal virtues.
Silver
Silver has been known since ancient times: heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate silver was excavated as early as the 4th millenniumBC using surface mining. Jewellery and silverware are traditionally made from sterling silver, an alloy of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper. Unlike blacksmiths, silversmiths do not shape the red-hot metal, but instead, work it at room temperature with gentle and carefully-placed hammer blows.
Turquoise
Hardness and richness of colour are two of the major factors in determining the value of turquoise; while colour is a matter of individual taste, generally speaking, the most desirable is a strong sky to "robin's egg" blue.
The mother rock or matrix in which turquoise is found can often be seen as a network of brown or black veins running through the stone in a netted pattern; this veining may add value to the stone, if complimentary.
Coral
Corals are marine animals typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps" and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
It exhibits a range of warm reddish pink colors from pale pink to deep red. Coral trade has taken place for centuries between the Mediterranean and India, where it was highly esteemed as a substance endowed with mysterious sacred properties and many medicinal virtues.
Silver
Silver has been known since ancient times: heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate silver was excavated as early as the 4th millenniumBC using surface mining. Jewellery and silverware are traditionally made from sterling silver, an alloy of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper. Unlike blacksmiths, silversmiths do not shape the red-hot metal, but instead, work it at room temperature with gentle and carefully-placed hammer blows.
Gemstones
A gemstone or gem (also called a precious or semi-precious stone) is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments.However certain rocks, (such as lapis lazuli) and organic materials (such as amber or jet) are not minerals, but are still used for jewelry, and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Rarity is another characteristic that lends value to a gemstone.
Characteristics and classification The traditional classification in the West, which goes back to the Ancient Greeks, begins with a distinction between precious and semi-precious stones; similar distinctions are made in other cultures. It reflects the rarity of the respective stones in ancient times, as well as their quality: their color, translucency and hardness. The traditional distinction does not necessarily reflect modern values.
Aside from the diamond, the ruby, sapphire, emerald, pearl (strictly speaking not a gemstone) and opal have also been considered to be precious. Up to the discoveries of bulk amethyst in Brazil in the 19th century, amethyst was considered a precious stone as well, going back to ancient Greece. Even in the last century certain stones such as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye have been popular and hence been regarded as precious.Nowadays such a distinction is no longer made by the trade. Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc.
Gemstones are classified into different groups, species, and varieties. For example, ruby is the red variety of the species corundum, while any other color of corundum is considered sapphire. Emerald (green), aquamarine (blue), red beryl (red), goshenite (colorless), heliodor (yellow), and morganite (pink) are all varieties of the mineral species beryl.
Gems are characterized in terms of refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and luster. They may exhibit pleochroism or double refraction. They may have luminescence and a distinctive absorption spectrum.Material or flaws within a stone may be present as inclusions.
Gemstones may also be classified in terms of their "water". This is a recognized grading of the gem's luster and/or transparency and/or "brilliance". Very transparent gems are considered "first water", while "second" or "third water" gems are those of a lesser transparency.
Value Historically, all gemstones were graded using the naked eye. The GIA system included a major innovation in the 1950s: the introduction of 10x magnification as the standard for grading clarity. Other gemstones are still graded using the naked eye.
A mnemonic device, the "four Cs" (color, cut, clarity and carats), has been introduced to help the consumer understand the factors used to grade a diamond.[9] With modification, these categories can be useful in understanding the grading of all gemstones. Diamonds are meant to sparkle, to break down light into its constituent rainbow colors (dispersion), chop it up into bright little pieces (scintillation), and deliver it to the eye (brilliance). In its rough crystalline form, a diamond will do none of these things; it requires proper fashioning and this is called "cut". In gemstones that have color, including colored diamonds, it is the purity and beauty of that color that is the primary determinant of quality.
In colored stones, unusual optical phenomena within the stone can take place, such as color zoning, and asteria (star effects). The Greeks, for example, greatly valued asteria in gemstones, which were regarded as a powerful love charm, and Helen of Troy was known to have worn star-corundum.
Cutting and polishing A few gemstones are used as gems in the crystal or other form in which they are found. Most however, are cut and polished for usage as jewelry. The two main classifications are stones cut as smooth, dome shaped stones called cabochons, and stones which are cut with a faceting machine by polishing small flat windows called facets at regular intervals at exact angles.
Stones which are opaque such as opal, turquoise, etc. are commonly cut as cabochons. These gems are designed to show the stone's color or surface properties as in opal and star sapphires. Grinding wheels and polishing agents are used to grind, shape and polish the smooth dome shape of the stones.
Gems which are transparent are normally faceted, a method which shows the optical properties of the stone's interior to its best advantage by maximizing reflected light which is perceived by the viewer as sparkle. There are many commonly used shapes for faceted stones. The facets must be cut at the proper angles,which varies depending on the optical properties of the gem. If the angles are too steep or too shallow, the light will pass through and not be reflected back toward the viewer. The faceting machine is used to hold the stone onto a flat lap for cutting and polishing the flat facets.[15] Rarely, some cutters use special curved laps to cut and polish curved facets.
Color The color of any material is due to the nature of light itself. Daylight, often called white light, is actually a mixture of different colors of light. When light passes through a material, some of the light may be absorbed, while the rest passes through. The part that is not absorbed reaches the eye as white light minus the absorbed colors. A ruby appears red because it absorbs all the other colors of white light (blue, yellow, green, etc.) except red.
The same material can exhibit different colors. For example ruby and sapphire have the same chemical composition (both are corundum) but exhibit different colors. Even the same gemstone can occur in many different colors: sapphires show different shades of blue and pink and "fancy sapphires" exhibit a whole range of other colors from yellow to orange-pink, the latter called "Padparadscha sapphire".
This difference in color is based on the atomic structure of the stone. Although the different stones formally have the same chemical composition, they are not exactly the same. Every now and then an atom is replaced by a completely different atom (and this could be as few as one in a million atoms). These so called impurities are sufficient to absorb certain colors and leave the other colors unaffected.
For example, beryl, which is colorless in its pure mineral form, becomes emerald with chromium impurities. If you add manganese instead of chromium, beryl becomes pink morganite. With iron, it becomes aquamarine.
Characteristics and classification The traditional classification in the West, which goes back to the Ancient Greeks, begins with a distinction between precious and semi-precious stones; similar distinctions are made in other cultures. It reflects the rarity of the respective stones in ancient times, as well as their quality: their color, translucency and hardness. The traditional distinction does not necessarily reflect modern values.
Aside from the diamond, the ruby, sapphire, emerald, pearl (strictly speaking not a gemstone) and opal have also been considered to be precious. Up to the discoveries of bulk amethyst in Brazil in the 19th century, amethyst was considered a precious stone as well, going back to ancient Greece. Even in the last century certain stones such as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye have been popular and hence been regarded as precious.Nowadays such a distinction is no longer made by the trade. Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc.
Gemstones are classified into different groups, species, and varieties. For example, ruby is the red variety of the species corundum, while any other color of corundum is considered sapphire. Emerald (green), aquamarine (blue), red beryl (red), goshenite (colorless), heliodor (yellow), and morganite (pink) are all varieties of the mineral species beryl.
Gems are characterized in terms of refractive index, dispersion, specific gravity, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and luster. They may exhibit pleochroism or double refraction. They may have luminescence and a distinctive absorption spectrum.Material or flaws within a stone may be present as inclusions.
Gemstones may also be classified in terms of their "water". This is a recognized grading of the gem's luster and/or transparency and/or "brilliance". Very transparent gems are considered "first water", while "second" or "third water" gems are those of a lesser transparency.
Value Historically, all gemstones were graded using the naked eye. The GIA system included a major innovation in the 1950s: the introduction of 10x magnification as the standard for grading clarity. Other gemstones are still graded using the naked eye.
A mnemonic device, the "four Cs" (color, cut, clarity and carats), has been introduced to help the consumer understand the factors used to grade a diamond.[9] With modification, these categories can be useful in understanding the grading of all gemstones. Diamonds are meant to sparkle, to break down light into its constituent rainbow colors (dispersion), chop it up into bright little pieces (scintillation), and deliver it to the eye (brilliance). In its rough crystalline form, a diamond will do none of these things; it requires proper fashioning and this is called "cut". In gemstones that have color, including colored diamonds, it is the purity and beauty of that color that is the primary determinant of quality.
In colored stones, unusual optical phenomena within the stone can take place, such as color zoning, and asteria (star effects). The Greeks, for example, greatly valued asteria in gemstones, which were regarded as a powerful love charm, and Helen of Troy was known to have worn star-corundum.
Cutting and polishing A few gemstones are used as gems in the crystal or other form in which they are found. Most however, are cut and polished for usage as jewelry. The two main classifications are stones cut as smooth, dome shaped stones called cabochons, and stones which are cut with a faceting machine by polishing small flat windows called facets at regular intervals at exact angles.
Stones which are opaque such as opal, turquoise, etc. are commonly cut as cabochons. These gems are designed to show the stone's color or surface properties as in opal and star sapphires. Grinding wheels and polishing agents are used to grind, shape and polish the smooth dome shape of the stones.
Gems which are transparent are normally faceted, a method which shows the optical properties of the stone's interior to its best advantage by maximizing reflected light which is perceived by the viewer as sparkle. There are many commonly used shapes for faceted stones. The facets must be cut at the proper angles,which varies depending on the optical properties of the gem. If the angles are too steep or too shallow, the light will pass through and not be reflected back toward the viewer. The faceting machine is used to hold the stone onto a flat lap for cutting and polishing the flat facets.[15] Rarely, some cutters use special curved laps to cut and polish curved facets.
Color The color of any material is due to the nature of light itself. Daylight, often called white light, is actually a mixture of different colors of light. When light passes through a material, some of the light may be absorbed, while the rest passes through. The part that is not absorbed reaches the eye as white light minus the absorbed colors. A ruby appears red because it absorbs all the other colors of white light (blue, yellow, green, etc.) except red.
The same material can exhibit different colors. For example ruby and sapphire have the same chemical composition (both are corundum) but exhibit different colors. Even the same gemstone can occur in many different colors: sapphires show different shades of blue and pink and "fancy sapphires" exhibit a whole range of other colors from yellow to orange-pink, the latter called "Padparadscha sapphire".
This difference in color is based on the atomic structure of the stone. Although the different stones formally have the same chemical composition, they are not exactly the same. Every now and then an atom is replaced by a completely different atom (and this could be as few as one in a million atoms). These so called impurities are sufficient to absorb certain colors and leave the other colors unaffected.
For example, beryl, which is colorless in its pure mineral form, becomes emerald with chromium impurities. If you add manganese instead of chromium, beryl becomes pink morganite. With iron, it becomes aquamarine.
Kashmiri textiles
Kashmir, India's northern-most state, was the gateway into India. Kashmir was a pivotal point through which the wealth, knowledge, and products of ancient India passed to the world. Perhaps the most widely known woven textiles are the famed Kashmir shawls.
The first shawls, or "shals", were used in Assyrian times. Later, it went into wide spread in the Middle East. Shawls were also part of the traditional male costume in Kashmir, and were probably introduced via assimilation to Persian culture. They could be of a single color, woven in different colors (tilikar), ornately woven or embroidered (ameli).
Kashmiri textiles are made from goat wool (cashemere or pashmina), but some variations use a blends of wool and silk or wool and cotton.
The Kanikar has intricately woven designs that are formalized imitations of Nature, like chenar leaf (maple tree), apple and cherry blossoms, roses and tulips, almonds and pears, and the nightingale.
The Jamawar is a brocaded fabric in pure wool or a cotton blend. The floral design is tightly embroidered in dull silk or soft pashmina wool, and usually comprises small or large flowers delicately sprayed and combined.
The Dorukha, is a woven reversible shawl. It is a unique piece of craftsmanship, in which a multi-colored pattern is woven over the surface. After the shawl is completed, the Rafugar (expert embroiderer) works the outlines of the motifs in darker shades to bring out the beauty of the design.
The most expensive shawl, called Shatoosh, is made from the beard hair of the wild Ibex and is so fine that a whole shawl can pass through a ring.
The Persian device, naksha, like the Jacquard loom invented centuries later, enabled Indian weavers to create sinuous floral patterns and creeper designs in brocade. The Kashmir shawl evolved from this expertise, and had greater fame than any other Indian textile. Always a luxury product, the intricate, tapestry-woven, fine wool shawl had become a fashionable wrap for the ladies of the English and French elite by the 18th century. As early as 1803, Kashmiri needlework production was established to increase and hasten output of these shawls. By 1870, the advent of the Jacquard loom in Europe destroyed the exclusivity of the original Kashmir shawl, which began to be produced in Paisley, England. Nevertheless, the expertise of Kashmiri artists has never been quite surpassed, as you can see here in our shop's beautiful collection.
The first shawls, or "shals", were used in Assyrian times. Later, it went into wide spread in the Middle East. Shawls were also part of the traditional male costume in Kashmir, and were probably introduced via assimilation to Persian culture. They could be of a single color, woven in different colors (tilikar), ornately woven or embroidered (ameli).
Kashmiri textiles are made from goat wool (cashemere or pashmina), but some variations use a blends of wool and silk or wool and cotton.
The Kanikar has intricately woven designs that are formalized imitations of Nature, like chenar leaf (maple tree), apple and cherry blossoms, roses and tulips, almonds and pears, and the nightingale.
The Jamawar is a brocaded fabric in pure wool or a cotton blend. The floral design is tightly embroidered in dull silk or soft pashmina wool, and usually comprises small or large flowers delicately sprayed and combined.
The Dorukha, is a woven reversible shawl. It is a unique piece of craftsmanship, in which a multi-colored pattern is woven over the surface. After the shawl is completed, the Rafugar (expert embroiderer) works the outlines of the motifs in darker shades to bring out the beauty of the design.
The most expensive shawl, called Shatoosh, is made from the beard hair of the wild Ibex and is so fine that a whole shawl can pass through a ring.
The Persian device, naksha, like the Jacquard loom invented centuries later, enabled Indian weavers to create sinuous floral patterns and creeper designs in brocade. The Kashmir shawl evolved from this expertise, and had greater fame than any other Indian textile. Always a luxury product, the intricate, tapestry-woven, fine wool shawl had become a fashionable wrap for the ladies of the English and French elite by the 18th century. As early as 1803, Kashmiri needlework production was established to increase and hasten output of these shawls. By 1870, the advent of the Jacquard loom in Europe destroyed the exclusivity of the original Kashmir shawl, which began to be produced in Paisley, England. Nevertheless, the expertise of Kashmiri artists has never been quite surpassed, as you can see here in our shop's beautiful collection.
The Silk road
Silk is a natural protein fiber. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori), reared in captivity. The larvae are fed mulberry leaves and after the fourth molt, they climb on twigs placed near them and spin their silken cocoon, preparing for metamorphosis. The silk is a continuous filament of fibroin protein, secreted by 2 salivary glands in the head of the larvae, combined with a gum called sericin, which cements the filaments together. The sericin is removed by placing the cocoons in hot water, thus freeing the silk filaments and readying them for reeling. Filaments are combined to from a thread. Silkworms spin about 1 mile of filament to close its cocoon in 2-3 days. About 5500 silkworms are needed to produce 1 kg of silk. The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fiber, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
The history of silk starts in the 2nd millenium BC. Its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened during the latter half of the first millenium BC. Trading routes extended as far as Egypt, Italy and Greece. The main road (Northern Route) left from Xi’an, going north of the Taklamakan desert, one of the most arid in the world, before crossing the Pamir mountains. The caravans were quite large, from 100 to 500 people, with camels and yaks, carrying around 140 kg (300 lbs) of merchandise. They arrived in Antioch and the Mediterranean after approximately one year of travel. The second route, called the Southern Route, crossed through Burma and India before rejoining the Northern Route.
During the following thousand years, silk cultivation spread to Japan, the Byzantine Empire and the Arabic world. It is only with the Crusades that silk production moved to Western Europe, particularly Italy and France. Nowadays, China and India are still the two main producers of silk, together manufacturing more than 60% of the world production each year. In India, the majority of raw silk is produced in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, in the South, and Varanasi in the North. Brocade weaving centers of India bloomed around capitals of kingdoms and holy cities, in response to the demand for fine fabrics by royal families and temples.
Kinkhwabs (brocades) are made of heavy silk with floral or figurative patterns, while Potthans are lighter in textures (lower thread count). Both are usually embellished with gold or silver. Himru is a type of brocade with variegated designs. It is very fine and has a soft feel, though it is of lower quality than pure silk brocades.
The classical motifs are the swan (hamsa) the lotus (kamala), the tree of life (kulpa, vriksha), the vase of plenty (purna, kumbha) the elephant (hathi) the lion (simha), the peacock (mayur) and floral creepers (lata patra).
The history of silk starts in the 2nd millenium BC. Its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened during the latter half of the first millenium BC. Trading routes extended as far as Egypt, Italy and Greece. The main road (Northern Route) left from Xi’an, going north of the Taklamakan desert, one of the most arid in the world, before crossing the Pamir mountains. The caravans were quite large, from 100 to 500 people, with camels and yaks, carrying around 140 kg (300 lbs) of merchandise. They arrived in Antioch and the Mediterranean after approximately one year of travel. The second route, called the Southern Route, crossed through Burma and India before rejoining the Northern Route.
During the following thousand years, silk cultivation spread to Japan, the Byzantine Empire and the Arabic world. It is only with the Crusades that silk production moved to Western Europe, particularly Italy and France. Nowadays, China and India are still the two main producers of silk, together manufacturing more than 60% of the world production each year. In India, the majority of raw silk is produced in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, in the South, and Varanasi in the North. Brocade weaving centers of India bloomed around capitals of kingdoms and holy cities, in response to the demand for fine fabrics by royal families and temples.
Kinkhwabs (brocades) are made of heavy silk with floral or figurative patterns, while Potthans are lighter in textures (lower thread count). Both are usually embellished with gold or silver. Himru is a type of brocade with variegated designs. It is very fine and has a soft feel, though it is of lower quality than pure silk brocades.
The classical motifs are the swan (hamsa) the lotus (kamala), the tree of life (kulpa, vriksha), the vase of plenty (purna, kumbha) the elephant (hathi) the lion (simha), the peacock (mayur) and floral creepers (lata patra).
Mughal paintings
Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums, which emerged from Persian miniature painting, with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences, and developed largely in the court of the Mughal Empire (16th - 19th centuries), and later spread to other Indian courts, both Muslim and Hindu, and later Sikh.
Origins
There was already a Muslim tradition of miniature painting under the Sultanate of Delhi which the Mughals overthrew. Although the first surviving manuscripts are from Mandu in the years either side of 1500, there were very likely earlier ones which are either lost, or perhaps now attributed to southern Persia, as later manuscripts can be hard to distinguish from these by style alone, and some remain the subject of debate among specialists.By the time of the Mughal invasion, the tradition had abandoned the high viewpoint typical of the Persian style, and adopted a more realistic style for animals and plants.
No miniatures survive from the reign of the founder of the dynasty, Babur, nor does he mention commissioning any in his diaries, the Baburnama. Copies of this were illustrated by his descendents, Akbar in particular, with many portraits of the many new animals Babur encountered when he invaded India, which are carefully described.However some surviving un-illustrated manuscripts may have been commissioned by him, and he comments on the style of some famous past Persian masters. Some older illustrated manuscripts have his seal on them; the Mughals came from a long line stretching back to Timur and were fully assimilated into Persianate culture, and expected to patronize literature and the arts.
Mughal painting immediately took a much greater interest in realistic portraiture than was typical of Persian miniatures. Animals and plants were also more realistically shown. Although many classic works of Persian literature continued to be illustrated, as well as Indian works, the taste of the Mughal emperors for writing memoirs or diaries, begun by Babur, provided some of the most lavishly decorated texts, such as the Padshahnama genre of official histories. Subjects are rich in variety and include portraits, events and scenes from court life, wild life and hunting scenes, and illustrations of battles.
Development
Humayun
When the second Mughal emperor, Humayun (reigned 1530–1540 and 1555-1556) was in exile in Tabriz in the Safavid court of Shah Tahmasp I of Persia, he was exposed to Persian miniature painting, and commissioned at least one work there, an unusually large painting of Princes of the House of Timur, now in the British Museum. When Humayun returned to India, he brought with him two accomplished Persian artists, Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad. Humayan's major known commission was a Khamsa of Nizami with 36 illuminated pages, in which the different styles of the various artists are mostly still apparent.
Akbar
Mughal painting developed and flourished during the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. During the reign of Humayun's son Akbar (r. 1556-1605), the imperial court, apart from being the centre of administrative authority to manage and rule the vast Mughal empire, also emerged as a centre of cultural excellence. Akbar inherited and expanded his father's library and atelier of court painters, and paid close personal attention to its output. He had studied painting in his youth under Abd as-Samad, though it is not clear how far these studies went.
Between 1560 and 1566 the Tutinama ("Tales of a Parrot"), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art was illustrated, showing "the stylistic components of the imperial Mughal style at a formative stage". Among other manuscripts, between 1562 and 1577 the atelier worked on an illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama consisting of 1,400 canvas folios. Sa'di's masterpiece The Gulistan was produced at Fatehpur Sikri in 1582, a Darab Nama around 1585; the Khamsa of Nizami (British Library, Or. 12208) followed in the 1590s and Jami's Baharistan around 1595 in Lahore. As Mughal-derived painting spread to Hindu courts the texts illustrated included the Hindu epics including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; themes with animal fables; individual portraits; and paintings on scores of different themes. Mughal style during this period continued to refine itself with elements of realism and naturalism coming to the fore.
Jahangir (1605-27) had an artistic inclination and during his reign Mughal painting developed further. Brushwork became finer and the colors lighter. Jahangir was also deeply influenced by European painting. During his reign he came into direct contact with the English Crown and was sent gifts of oil paintings, which included portraits of the King and Queen. He encouraged his royal atelier to take up the single point perspective favoured by European artists, unlike the flattened multi-layered style used in traditional miniatures. He particularly encouraged paintings depicting events of his own life, individual portraits, and studies of birds, flowers and animals. The Jahangirnama , written during his lifetime, which is a biographical account of Jahangir, has several paintings, including some unusual subjects such as the sexual union of a saint with a tigress, and fights between spiders.
During the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-58), Mughal paintings continued to develop, but they gradually became cold and rigid. Themes including musical parties; lovers, sometimes in intimate positions, on terraces and gardens; and ascetics gathered around a fire, abound in the Mughal paintings of this period.
Decline
A durbar scene with the newly crowned Emperor Aurangzeb in his golden throne. Though he did not encourage Mughal painting, some of the best work was done during in his reign. Aurangzeb (1658-1707) did not actively encourage Mughal paintings, but as this art form had gathered momentum and had a number of patrons, Mughal paintings continued to survive, but the decline had set in. Some sources however note that a few of the best Mughal paintings were made for Aurangzeb, speculating that the painters may have realized that he was about to close the workshops and thus exceeded themselves in his behalf. A brief revival was noticed during the reign of Muhammad Shah 'Rangeela' (1719-48), but by the time of Shah Alam II (1759-1806), the art of Mughal painting had lost its glory. By that time, other schools of Indian painting had developed, including, in the royal courts of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajputana, Rajput painting and in the cities ruled by the British East India Company, the Company style under Western influence.
Mughal style today
Mughal-style miniature paintings are still being created today by a small number of artists in Rajasthan concentrated mainly in Jaipur, Udaipur and Jaisalmer. Although many of these miniatures are skillful copies of the originals, some artists have produced modern works using classic methods with, at times, remarkable artistic effect.
The skills needed to produce these modern versions of Mughal miniatures are still passed on from generation to generation, although many artisans also employ dozens of workers, often painting under trying working conditions, to produce works sold under the signature of their modern masters.
Where to see them
The National Museum of India, in Delhi, has an extensive miniature collection, with original works from the masters. It is awe-inspiring to be actually standing in front of a miniature depicting Akbar hunting with his court. For a more modern intake on this ancient art, many artists expose their work in Jaisalmer Fort and near the various Havelis. There are "live shows" of artists at Nathmal Haveli (left hand-side when you enter by the front door).
Origins
There was already a Muslim tradition of miniature painting under the Sultanate of Delhi which the Mughals overthrew. Although the first surviving manuscripts are from Mandu in the years either side of 1500, there were very likely earlier ones which are either lost, or perhaps now attributed to southern Persia, as later manuscripts can be hard to distinguish from these by style alone, and some remain the subject of debate among specialists.By the time of the Mughal invasion, the tradition had abandoned the high viewpoint typical of the Persian style, and adopted a more realistic style for animals and plants.
No miniatures survive from the reign of the founder of the dynasty, Babur, nor does he mention commissioning any in his diaries, the Baburnama. Copies of this were illustrated by his descendents, Akbar in particular, with many portraits of the many new animals Babur encountered when he invaded India, which are carefully described.However some surviving un-illustrated manuscripts may have been commissioned by him, and he comments on the style of some famous past Persian masters. Some older illustrated manuscripts have his seal on them; the Mughals came from a long line stretching back to Timur and were fully assimilated into Persianate culture, and expected to patronize literature and the arts.
Mughal painting immediately took a much greater interest in realistic portraiture than was typical of Persian miniatures. Animals and plants were also more realistically shown. Although many classic works of Persian literature continued to be illustrated, as well as Indian works, the taste of the Mughal emperors for writing memoirs or diaries, begun by Babur, provided some of the most lavishly decorated texts, such as the Padshahnama genre of official histories. Subjects are rich in variety and include portraits, events and scenes from court life, wild life and hunting scenes, and illustrations of battles.
Development
Humayun
When the second Mughal emperor, Humayun (reigned 1530–1540 and 1555-1556) was in exile in Tabriz in the Safavid court of Shah Tahmasp I of Persia, he was exposed to Persian miniature painting, and commissioned at least one work there, an unusually large painting of Princes of the House of Timur, now in the British Museum. When Humayun returned to India, he brought with him two accomplished Persian artists, Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad. Humayan's major known commission was a Khamsa of Nizami with 36 illuminated pages, in which the different styles of the various artists are mostly still apparent.
Akbar
Mughal painting developed and flourished during the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. During the reign of Humayun's son Akbar (r. 1556-1605), the imperial court, apart from being the centre of administrative authority to manage and rule the vast Mughal empire, also emerged as a centre of cultural excellence. Akbar inherited and expanded his father's library and atelier of court painters, and paid close personal attention to its output. He had studied painting in his youth under Abd as-Samad, though it is not clear how far these studies went.
Between 1560 and 1566 the Tutinama ("Tales of a Parrot"), now in the Cleveland Museum of Art was illustrated, showing "the stylistic components of the imperial Mughal style at a formative stage". Among other manuscripts, between 1562 and 1577 the atelier worked on an illustrated manuscript of the Hamzanama consisting of 1,400 canvas folios. Sa'di's masterpiece The Gulistan was produced at Fatehpur Sikri in 1582, a Darab Nama around 1585; the Khamsa of Nizami (British Library, Or. 12208) followed in the 1590s and Jami's Baharistan around 1595 in Lahore. As Mughal-derived painting spread to Hindu courts the texts illustrated included the Hindu epics including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; themes with animal fables; individual portraits; and paintings on scores of different themes. Mughal style during this period continued to refine itself with elements of realism and naturalism coming to the fore.
Jahangir (1605-27) had an artistic inclination and during his reign Mughal painting developed further. Brushwork became finer and the colors lighter. Jahangir was also deeply influenced by European painting. During his reign he came into direct contact with the English Crown and was sent gifts of oil paintings, which included portraits of the King and Queen. He encouraged his royal atelier to take up the single point perspective favoured by European artists, unlike the flattened multi-layered style used in traditional miniatures. He particularly encouraged paintings depicting events of his own life, individual portraits, and studies of birds, flowers and animals. The Jahangirnama , written during his lifetime, which is a biographical account of Jahangir, has several paintings, including some unusual subjects such as the sexual union of a saint with a tigress, and fights between spiders.
During the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-58), Mughal paintings continued to develop, but they gradually became cold and rigid. Themes including musical parties; lovers, sometimes in intimate positions, on terraces and gardens; and ascetics gathered around a fire, abound in the Mughal paintings of this period.
Decline
A durbar scene with the newly crowned Emperor Aurangzeb in his golden throne. Though he did not encourage Mughal painting, some of the best work was done during in his reign. Aurangzeb (1658-1707) did not actively encourage Mughal paintings, but as this art form had gathered momentum and had a number of patrons, Mughal paintings continued to survive, but the decline had set in. Some sources however note that a few of the best Mughal paintings were made for Aurangzeb, speculating that the painters may have realized that he was about to close the workshops and thus exceeded themselves in his behalf. A brief revival was noticed during the reign of Muhammad Shah 'Rangeela' (1719-48), but by the time of Shah Alam II (1759-1806), the art of Mughal painting had lost its glory. By that time, other schools of Indian painting had developed, including, in the royal courts of the Rajput kingdoms of Rajputana, Rajput painting and in the cities ruled by the British East India Company, the Company style under Western influence.
Mughal style today
Mughal-style miniature paintings are still being created today by a small number of artists in Rajasthan concentrated mainly in Jaipur, Udaipur and Jaisalmer. Although many of these miniatures are skillful copies of the originals, some artists have produced modern works using classic methods with, at times, remarkable artistic effect.
The skills needed to produce these modern versions of Mughal miniatures are still passed on from generation to generation, although many artisans also employ dozens of workers, often painting under trying working conditions, to produce works sold under the signature of their modern masters.
Where to see them
The National Museum of India, in Delhi, has an extensive miniature collection, with original works from the masters. It is awe-inspiring to be actually standing in front of a miniature depicting Akbar hunting with his court. For a more modern intake on this ancient art, many artists expose their work in Jaisalmer Fort and near the various Havelis. There are "live shows" of artists at Nathmal Haveli (left hand-side when you enter by the front door).