| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 29 Aug, 2005 | Total Views : 356 |
We take for granted the availability of metal objects in our life, be they large sized metal boxes, almirahs, eating and cooking vessels and even our gold, silver and platinum jewellery. In the beginning of civilization metal was rare. Originally metal was derived from meteorites, which were considered sacred; therefore very special objects were made from it. In fact a dagger of Shahjahan was made out of metal derived from meteorites and was considered not only the finest, but a powerful protective talisman. Working with metals was invested with mystery and connected with the occult, the smelting and shaping of metal was a secret ritual and the blacksmith's forge was considered sacred. The blacksmith was seen as a shaman, a visionary, who could transcend given reality and reach beyond into the unknown, the unfathomable. Later, metals were associated with the planets and it was believed that they could accentuate or minimize planetary influences. This mystique was transformed into the science of alchemy, so different techniques of working metals in ancient civilization gave them dominance over those who lacked the skill.
Over the years the availability of metals grew and shaped vessels were developed for different uses; many of the shapes being derived from nature. The very word patram, for vessels, is derived from patria, the leaf. Even today the gourd is used by tribals for carrying water. The Rathwas of Chota Udaipur use a gourd for their morning ablutions and it is left hanging on the wall outside their dwelling-place. A brass container of the same shape is used for drinking water and other liquids. Many of the metal shapes have been derived from clay forms, thus often the same shapes are found in clay and in metal.
The commonest metal vessels are large water-pitcher of brass or copper with a circular mouth. Its narrow neck and rounded contours, which end in a steady base, is an example of a perfect form designed for everyday use. Seeing the vessel fitted into the curve of the waist and supported on the hip, one realizes the close connection of the form with the curvaceous form of the women who have used it for many millennia.
Shiva Patra, a bull-headed ritual pot in copper from South India. The mouth of the bull is the pout from which water is pouredThe shapes very in each area. The north Indian water-pitcher has a flat base and rises at an angle. There is a certain angularity in its form. The Rajasthani pitcher, however, is rounded and has a very small mouth and narrow neck, so as to protect the water from spilling over, as well as to control the flow of water, reducing it to a mere trickle. The miniature water-pitcher, the lota, is used from morning till evening. Yet we never realize that it is one of the most expressive forms. The curving outward lip, the narrow neck and the rounded container with its steady base, makes it one of the most functional and satisfying objects of use.
A variety of ritual vessels were also evolved over the years, which in due course; achieved a perfection of form. A metal is used with sensitivity, not only to its burnished form, but also to its sound. The temple bells of India are celebrated for the depth and purity of their tone and also for their elegant architectonic forms. Since bell-metal is considered to be the purest of all materials, it is not only used for ritual purposes, but also for utensils of everyday use. Unlike people of Europe and Middle-Eastern countries, Indians do not traditionally use glass and porcelain, with the result that all requirements of the household-glasses, cups, plates, serving dishes and containers used to be made of metal.
The bell-metal, which is an alloy of copper and tin, is non reactive to acids. It is a speciality of some areas. Normally, sour dishes such as those cooked with vinegar and lemon juice cannot be served in vessels of inferior metals like copper and brass, unless these are silver-plated or tinned.
Innumerable metal techniques have been mastered in India. The most important of these are the technique of creating a shape by joining different parts of the vessel. This is done in a subtle manner by creating a ridge, which hides the soldering. This method emphasizes the central portion of the wadhi, the butter dispenser, or the sloping neck of the ghara, the pitcher.
A bronze container in the form of a parakeet from South India.Indian craftsman are also experts as creating shapes out of sheet metal. The most complicated shapes are formed by hammer strokes. Water-vessels, lotas, large serving plates, thals, table-tops, large dowry boxes from Gujarat, and innumerable other forms are made by alternately heating and hammering the metal. A number of these forms retain the impression of the hammer strokes, which accentuate the form and texture of these pieces. The objects of everyday use are normally not engraved, but the decorative pieces and those, which are used for rituals or for ceremonial occasions, are. The engraving is done by master craftsmen who are capable of reproducing a variety of patterns taken from everyday life. A number of ritual objects of southern India carry symbols of Vishnu or depict the Dasavtars, the ten incarnations of Vishnu. The ritual vessels used by the worshippers of Shiva on the other hand carry the lingam, the phallic symbol or nandi the bull.
Many others are decorated with designs taken from mythology as well as everyday life. For instance, there may be long-tailed peacock, the vahana of Kartikeya, or Rati, the goddess of love, of the stylized hamsa, the mythical swan, associated with Saraswati, the goddess of learning. Another important technique of sheet metal, which has been perfected in India, is the deep repousse work. Here a flat piece of metal, or the rounded part of a vessel on which the repoussee work has to be done, is filled with lac and the basic pattern is down. After this the outline is beaten into the lac with hammer strokes and the area, which has to be depressed is beaten down. The lac is then heated and melted. The right side is now embedded in lac and the process reversed. The sections to be raised in the finished design are now beaten outwards. The process is repeated three or four times until the deep repousee work pattern emerges, quite often nearly three-quarters of an inch in height. The final finishing touch is given when the details of engraving work have been done on the repousse. Trichinopoly, Madurai, Tanjore and Chennai in the south, Varanasi in the north, and Mumbai, Bhuj and north Gujarat, specialize in this type of work. This technique is used for making of images used for worship and decorative panels depicting mythological scenes.
The silver work tea sets, dishes, jugs, glasses are also a great speciality of this style. Some vessels are not prepared by casting or by sheet work. The initial form of the object to be cast is first prepared as a mould after which it is cast fully, or in a number of pieces, which are then joined together. Moradabad in U.P. specializes in this technique. The complicated brass aftaba, wine-container, with its sculpturesque form, its flowing long spout and carving handle, is cast in a number of pieces, which are joined together to make the final object. The casting of brass and copper shapes in Moradabad is semi-mechanized, whereas the casting of bell-metal in Kerala, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Assam is of a different variety. In the latter case, individual pieces are first created in sand or in clay, and are then cast in metal. This normally results in each piece being quite distinct. Besides, the bell-metal gives a burnished effect, much richer in color than brass or copper, and it has the additional advantage of being non-reactive to acids.
Another form of decorating the surface of metalware is by the combining of two metals to create the basic shape as in galati, which has religious association. This technique is known as Ganga-Jamuna, the brass representing the Ganga and copper the Jamuna. Combining different metals is also done by damascening, in which other metals are encrusted on the basic metals. This can be seen in bidar work, koftgari, zarnishan and tarkashi.
Koftgari, or damascening, is an ancient art in which one metal is encrusted onto another either in the form of wires or as small-shaped metal pieces. Koftgari was originally done with silver and gold wire on iron or steel meant for swords, daggers, and even guns. Today this art exists in Kerala, where complicated designs in silver wire are inlaid on iron metal sheets.
Bidri is also based on the damascening of silver on oxidized black vessels made of copper and zinc. The art gets its name from the place of its origin in Mysore, though it is also practiced at Lucknow in U.P. and Purnea and Murshidabad in West Bengal.
Tanjore plate work, originally used for making ritual objects, is also a form of damascening. Here the basic shape is made out of copper, which is considered an auspicious metal and is used for ritual purposes. Over this silver medallions carrying repoussee designs of gods and goddesses and their vahanas are attached to the surface. Brass decorative rosettes are also sometime attached for accentuating the contrast of color and textures. Today a number of objects are made such as large wall plates, chembu, the lota, kalash, pitcher, panchapatra, ritual vessels, as well as utility items such as bowls and cigarette boxes.
Enamelling of two kinds is practiced in Jaipur, Delhi, Lucknow and Moradabad. Here, metal is engraved so as to provide depressions in which different colors of lac are heated and fixed to create a surface of variegated colors. In certain cases, the surface is filled with glazes and the pot is fired. When this technique is employed, the colors become lasting. The different styles of motifs used in enameled metalware are chikan, marori, bidar, and siah kalam. In chikan, bold floral decorations are left in relief in the basic metalware, whereas the surface is covered with lacquer. In marori, delicate curved arabesque patterns are worked and either black or some other dark color is introduced to bring into contrast the delicacy of the chiseled pattern.
Siah kalam is by far the finest engraving in enable work of Moradabad and Jaipur. Only a few master craftsmen practice this art of precise engraved designs on a metal background covered with black lacquer.
BRONZE CASTING
The child Krishna holding a lump of butter in one hand and a ball in the other in bronze from OrissaThe Harappan figure of a dancer, with her carfree stance, is one of the first metal sculpture pieces discovered in India. Even 5,000 years ago, Indian craftsmen had mastered the art of casting. The large Buddha figure at Sultanganj is possibly the largest surviving metal work of ancient time and is a monument to the skill of Indian craftsmen in melting and casting metal. The cire perdue, or lost wax process of casting, has been developed into a fine art in India. Images made for worship all over India were earlier made from an alloy known as panchadhatu, five metals. The metals were mixed in the proportion required for the image to be prepared. Nowadays, however, bronze or copper and brass are used for this purpose. The art of metal casting as it has been traditionally practiced is according to the Shilpa Shastra. Each image has its own proportion and the traditional metal caster known as the sthapati, caste the image according to what he learns from the Shilpa Shastra during his apprenticeship. The basic form is first pre pared out of wax and is then enclosed in clay moulds and fired. In the process of firing, the clay mould is created, the wax and is melts and leaves a hollow in side the mould. Hot molten metal is poured into the mould. After the metal has cooled, the mould is broken open and the basic solid caste image emerges. After this the image is finished with engraving and chiseling. Swamimalay, Madurai, Mysore, Bangalore, Karkal and centers in Kerala have distinctive styles.
Hollow anklets in silver from RajasthanPalitana is an important center in Gujarat for casting Jain images, while the hill areas cast images of the mother goddess or the mohras, faces, of the gods and goddesses. Varanasi and Mathura in U.P., Vishnupur near Kolkata, and Balasore and Puri in Orissa, cast images of Radha and Krishna, and some other deities. Each area has its own distinct style of metal cast images, which are made for the local temples or for worship at home. There is another by which gods and goddesses of the tribal people are made. They are made by metal casters, who were nomadic and moved from one area to another. Living on the outskirts of the village they picked up broken brass vessels sels, melted them and cast the images for worship, jewellery worn by the local women and men. The women's anklets, toe rings, charms, hair pins, bangles, while for men it was jewellery for their ritual dances.
The tribal casting is prepared in Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Orissa by a community of itinerant metal workers. The basic shape is first prepared in clay and then covered with threads of wax, which are either smoothed over to give a flat surface, or retained in their original state to produce a wire-like effect. Details of the finer features and decorative designs are then worked with the help of thin threads of wax. The finished wax model is then covered with a thin layer of fine clay, after which another coat of clay mixed with straw is given, retaining one funnel-like opening. The clay-covered piece is then kept in an open hearth so that the clay is fired and the wax covering is melted and burnt, thus creating a gap between the inner core and the outer mould. After this, the hot molten metal is poured and the final shape emerges after the mould has been broken open. The wire-like effect remains intact. It is possible to make this form hollow, by extracting the inner core of clay. The piece as it emerges from the mould is in a finished form and does not need to be chiseled. An acid bath cleans the metal and gives it a soft burnished effect.
