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Eternal India
encyclopedia
ART
OTHER ARTS
Gold & Silver Plate
The oldest examples of ancient gold and silver work found in
India are the gold casket and silver patera belonging to the India
Office Library, which has been lent to the Science and Art Depart-
ment for exhibition in the India Museum at South Kensington. It
was found in about 1840 in one of the Buddhist stupas at Bimaran.
The upper and lower rims of the casket are studded with rubies, and
between these jewelled lines the
whole circumference of the cas-
ket is divided into eight niches.
The niches are formed by a series
of flat pilasters supporting
finely-turned arches, circular be-
low and peaked above, between
which are figures of cranes with
outstretched wings. The whole is
executed in the best style of
beaten goldsmith's work. It is
Byzantine in general character. It had been executed by Indian
workmen from Greek designs or models. The bottom of the casket
was ornamented with a beautiful conventional representation of the
sacred lotus with eight petals, which were pointed like the arches of
the eight niches above them.
The
silver patera is 9 inches in di-
ameter, depth, l
5
/
g
inches, thickness '/
8
to '/
16
and '/
70
ofan inch and its weight
29.3 5 dwt troy. It represents in high
relief the procession of Dionysus. The
god sits in a car drawn by two har-
nessed females, with a drinking cup in
his extended right hand and his left
arm resting on the carved elbow of the
seat on which he reclines. In front of
the car stands a winged Eros holding a wine jug in his left hand and
brandishing in his right a fillet, the other end of which was held by a
flying Eros. A third Eros is pushing the wheel of the carriage behind
which follows the dancing Heracles (Hercules), recognised by the
club and panther's skin.
Over all is a representation of a clustering wine, and in the lower
exergue a panther is seen pressing its head into a wine jar, placed
between the representations of a tree, arranged symmetrically on
either side of it. The figures are encrusted on the surface of the
patera and the heads of Dionyses and Heracles are incomplete.
Punjab had a high reputation for the excellence of its gold and
silver work. The most well known was the parcel gilt silver work of
Kashmir, confined to the production of water vessels or sarais
designed from clay goblets in use throughout northern Punjab.
Among the Prince of Wales' Indian presents there was a tray with
six cups and saucers in "ruddy gold" which was an exquisite
example of the goldsmith's art of Kashmir.
All over India elsewhere gold was stained deep yellow except in
Sindh, where the goldsmiths and jewellers give it a highly artistic
tinge of olive-brown.
Metal work in Brass, Copper and Tin
The most interesting of all known "lotas" was one in the Indian
Museum dis-
covered -by
Major Hay,
in
1857
at
Kund-
lah in Kulu,
where a land-
slip had ex-
posed the an-
cient
Buddhist
cell in which
this lota had been lying buried for 1500 years.
It is enchased all
round with representations
of GautamaBuddha, as Prince
Siddharta before his conversion.
The copper statue at Sultanganj was the largest metal work of
ancient times in India. It shows the proficiency of the Hindus in
melting and casting metal.
The iron pillar, standing in the centre of the courtyard of the
Kutub mosque at old Delhi, is a solid shaft of iron 23 ft. 8 inches in
total height and 16.4 inches in diameter at the base and 12.05 inches
at the capital, which was 3'/
2
ft. high. Believed to be dated about
400 A.D. it is still unrusted and the capital and inscription are as
clear and sharp as when the pillar was first erected.
The beautiful perforated brass gates of the tomb of Shah Alam
at Ahmedabad is another notable example of the great skill of the
people of Gujarat in metal work.
In Kashmir tin was soldered on copper which had been previ-
ously deeply graven over with a diffused floral design, the sunken
ground of which was then filled with a black composition.
At Moradabad, tin was soldered on brass, and incised through
to the brass in floriated patterns, which sometimes were simply
marked by the yellow outlines of the brass and at others by graving
out the whole ground between the scrolls, and filling it in with a
blackened composition of lac.
Benares was famous for the beauty of its cast and sculptured
mythological images, not only in brass and copper, but in gold and
silver and also in wood and stone and clay. Idols of pure gold were
also made and in the scriptures great praise was showered on
those who worshipped graven images of these precious metals. The
gold images of Durga, Lakshmi, Krishna, Radha and Saraswati
which were kept in private houses and worshipped daily, must not
be less than one tola (nearly half an ounce) in weight.
The images of Shitala (the goddess of smallpox) were always
of silver. The images of Shiva in his lingam form were made of an
amalgam of mercury and tin, and was held most sacred. Copper
images of Surya, and of Shiva riding on Nandi and also in many parts
of India, of the serpent Naga, were kept in all houses and wor-
shipped daily. The stone images seen in Bengal were generally of
black marble. The nimba tree, Melai Azadirachta, furnished the
temple images of Vishnu, Durga, Radha, Lakshmi, Shiva, Garuda
and others.
The figures made of Kartikeya for his
annual festival in Bengal were often 27ft.
high. Benares was a great centre of manufac-
ture of idols and sacrificial utensils. The in-
dustry had sprung up naturally from the serv-
ices of the numerous temples of this city.