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PREFACE This book is intended to be entertaining and informative. It was not conceived as a scholarly reference work which is why it is light on footnotes and academic references. I have drawn on what I consider to be reliable source material such as A. Jaffer, Robinson’s Treatment of Ornament, contemporary 19th century British records and maps and the invaluable Industrial Arts of India by George Birdwood, Vol 11 published in 1880. I have selected sources which seem to me reliable and not simply unsubstantiated information that tends to circulate in the antiques trade. Above all, I have strived to allow the illustrative examples to speak for themselves and produce a visual record of the now forgotten craftsman who fashioned them in the first place. If nothing else, my hope is that they may stimulate others to delve into greater detail. It is clear that most if not all of the boxes illustrated on these pages were made to satisfy the British overlords during the colonial period of India. Whereas the Indians themselves had no use for tables, chairs, watch stands, writing slopes and other items of furniture specific to the western culture, boxes had always been essential to Indian living. They provided containers for jewellery and occasionally for the storage of cash and money for merchants. India was always a huge territory with a bewildering array of craftsman working in many media which is why we have concentrated on workers of wood making the small and easily storable artefacts we know as boxes. We have picked on a few styles of decoration and workmanship that are fairly readily recognised in the antiques business. Naturally, there are occasions when a particular box cannot be attributed to a particular time or place but it is surprising how frequently it can. Although extremely well-made using first class materials, many of these boxes have succumbed to the vicissitudes of age. Poor handling has often resulted in scratches, chips and losses. Storage conditions through humidity and temperature changes have also caused damage
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such as warping and cracking. Time alone has produced changes through oxidation and this natural process results in what we call patina. This latter process usually results in a darkening of the materials and should be left alone but I see no harm in trying to reverse the other effects. This has provided the opportunity for me to work with the materials used by the original craftsman and permit a ringside seat into their work methods, always helpful when it comes to identification. These opportunities so presented have provided astonishing insight into the virtuosity of the carpenters who made the original boxes before they were decorated. They knew their materials very well and understood that the climate of India was not kind to wood and so joints had to be pinned and glued in ways that would resist the passage of time. I don't know whether it was personal pride or the demands of their customers but it often seems that the craftsman went above and beyond the call of duty such that an item which might have been considered ephemoral has survived for 200 years in more or less original condition. Learned articles have been written on the influence of British rule on the arts and crafts of India. The subject has arounsed political passions because the effects are perceived to have been both positive and negative but this study avoids those issues to note in passing that the muslim rule of the Mughals had as much influence on Indian arts and crafts as the British. Islam forbids the use of natural elements in art and in most of the muslim world, from Al Andaluz in Spain to Persia in the east, decoration consisted of repeated geometric patterns but in India, emperor Jahangir, son of grand Mogul Akbar, introduced the use of flowering plant motifs as a design element following a visit to Kashmir. My hope is to kindle respect for India’s historical craftsmen who worked with exotic tropical hardwoods under and for their British patrons. A subtext is that this work will also stimulate respect for those workers who continue those ancient traditions to the present day. Perhaps it will garner some international support for their creations.
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INTRODUCTION Woodwork, including carving and cabinetry, had flourished in India for centuries. It flourished under the Mughal empire and many craftsmen found patronage inder the Maharajas and princely classes. These patrons often kept craftmen in their households for generations. They were paid little or nothing but in exchange for their work they were assured food, living quarters and the general necessities of life. Slowly but surely, the British dismantled the Indian nobility and provided fresh direction for the craftsmen. The artistic products found their way back to Great Britain via diplomatic bags and the general to-ings and fro-ings of civil servants and serving officers. In the years of 1850 - 1875, the British developed a number of art schools for training Indian artists under the auspices of the Department of Public Instruction. The schools founded included: Madras - 1850, Calcutta - 1854, Bombay -1857 and Lahore - 1875. (Mayo School of Arts at Lahore). In 1851, the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace stimulated considerable interest among the English towards Indian arts and crafts. In 1857, the South Kensington Museum was founded and in 1899 became known as the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1875, the Museum acquired the artefacts held by the former British East India Company and thus became Britain's pre-eminent collection of Indian artefacts. In 1883, the Government of India actively sought to encourage the arts and crafts movement in India and in 1886, the Prince of Wales made a highly anticipated visit to India in lieu of his mother Queen Victoria. As a result he established a Royal Commission which organised the Colonial and Indian Exhibit in London. In a sense, this culminated in 2018 when an exhibition Splendours of the Subcontinent: A Prince’s Tour of India 1875–6. of the Subcontinent: was displayed in the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London. A select group of princely treasures gifted to the Prince of Wales during that trip was finally put on display after 130 years. Not only the British provided support to local craftsmen. In 1881, the American artist and designer Lockwood de Forest formed The Ahmedabad woodcarving company and established commercial relations with Louis Tiffany and other dealers who for a time successfully marketed the company's
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products. Most of the work produced by these Indian workshops was carved from teak. Stylistically, Anglo Indian boxes have been grouped into four groups. Rosewood or ebony boxes inlaid with ivory Sandalwood boxes veneered with ivory, tortoiseshell, horn, quills or a combination of these materials. Sadeli mosaic on a sandalwood base. Carved boxes often combined with sadeli mosaic. The first two categories often referred to as Vizagapatam work from East India and the last two as Bombay work from West India. Insofar as Indian boxes have been studied and classified at all, focus has generally been on production from the East coast of India (centered on Vizagapatam) and the West coast ( centered on Bombay). This overlooks the wonderful output from centers in the north and south of India from Kashmir to Ceylon. We hope to rectify this oversight here. It should be noted that almost every town and village in India has expert carvers. The have a centuries-old tradition of providing sculptural work for local temples. So we cave concentrated on the work of those workers and workshops whose production found their way into the hands of British patrons during the period of British rule in India commonly known as the Raj. Indian place names tend to be confusing. I have generally used the preindependence names to be found on maps of the British Empire c. 1900. In conclusion, I should mention that the Indian capital, Delhi, is not included. Until 1989, Delhi was best known for its ivory carving. After the ivory ban was imposed in that year the ivory carvers turned their attention to sandalwood. This choice was indicated by the special aura surrounding that wood and was the choice of raw material that the carvers felt best made use of their skills and fine tools traditionally associated with ivory carving i.e chisels, files, vices, hammers and saws. Therefore there is no historical tradition of woodcarving in Delhi.
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Contents ANGLO INDIAN BOXES SADELI MICRO MOSAICS
p8 p10
MYSORE (today Misuru) VIZAGAPATAM (today Visakhapatnam) MONGHYR (today Monger) BOMBAY (today Mumbai) NAGINA HOSHIARPUR CHINIOT (today Pakistan) GALLE (today Ceylon/Sri Lanka) SRINAGAR (today Jammu & Kashmir) NETTUR (today Kerala)
p12 p24 p32 p36 p40 p44 p50 p54 p58 p64
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ANGLO-INDIAN BOXES Anglo Indian boxes were made in India for the English residents from the early part of the 18th century. They were brought back or sent back to England usually by the people who had commissioned them. From the beginning of the nineteenth century they were imported more commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the middle decades. They were very highly valued, especially the early ones, to the extent that the designs were copied on late 19th and early 20th century tins. All of the veneered boxes, ivory, quill and horn, were made in different shapes from the first decades of the 19th century. The Indian craftsmen also made the sarcophagus and architectural shapes fashionable in England. The decoration on the borders became more varied and sometimes even included oriental motifs. It is indicative of the cross cultural influences of the time that an Anglo Indian box could be of sarcophagus shape (Egyptian influence in England), executed in ivory, with Chinese figures incised in the border. The interior fitted with spools and sewing implements in the English fashion. The ancient art of Sadeli Mosaic is said to have been introduced from Shiraz in Persia via Sind to Bombay, a long time before the Anglo Indian boxes were made. It was a technique, which required a high degree of skill and patience. It was executed very lavishly, in that the frequent cuts wasted a great amount of the precious materials used. The workmanship was however more than commensurable to the value of the materials. The makers (reputed to be Persian) of sadeli mosaic made in the first two decades of the 19th century displayed a total understanding of the qualities of the different materials they used. They combined substances, which can expand and contract according to atmospheric conditions with others, which are hard and unyielding. The result was a sharp definition of the lines and patterns, which made up the whole design. On the early boxes the designs look deceptively simple. The fact is, they emerged from a culture, which had mastered geometry and understood how to generate a pattern from a set number of points. The patterns are so harmoniously combined that their incredible complexity is not immediately apparent. The earliest sadeli boxes are of simple rectangular shapes. The combination of the diverse patterns is a triumph of artistic judgment, impeccable workmanship and deep respect for the material in hand. The boxes have an opulence emanating from the richness of the materials, yet the total control of these materials and the cerebral nature of the overall designs give them a restrained dignity. These early Sadeli boxes with 100% coverage are now very rare indeed.
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18th century box with 100% sadeli decoration coverage
The British in India were the fortunate beneficiaries of artistic sensibilities and craft skills encouraged by the Mughals. In some cases they even imported craftsmen in order to put their skills to the use of the great Mughal emperor whose court in Agra far surpassed the British court for luxury and ostentation. In order to curry favor with the emperor Jahangir, Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of King James 1 of England, presented the emperor in 1615 with a horse drawn coach which captured the attention of the emperor for its novelty. But, on closer inspection, the emperor noticed that the upholstery was somewhat faded and the attention to detail in the construction somewhat lacking. He instructed his own craftmen to disassemble the coach and replace the iron nails with solid silver ones to generally bring the coach up to the standards of refinement befitting a ruler of his standing. In the end, he gave the coach to his wife and had a more regal copy made for himself. Even lesser princelings retained embroiderers, ivory carvers, woodworkers, artists and stone masons with advanced lapidary skills, all putting their skills at the service of the courts they served. Contrary to the urban myth, Jahangir’s son, Shah Jahan did not chop off the hands of the 20,000 workers who created the Taj Mahal. They all survived to lavish their skills on other monuments
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Sadeli Micro mosaics A few words about sadeli micromosaics used to decorate anglo-indian boxes. The technique still used in India today originated in Shiraz, Persia, but it is unclear if the idea originated there. It is familiar in England as traditional Tunbridge ware, in Japan as yosegi and throughout the middle east as khatam kari. The startling effect is achieved by gluing together bundles of differently colored materials. These are then sliced into thin veneers which can be glued onto a prepared surface ready for decoration. Most often in India, ivory, silver, pewter (or other metals), wood and horn are cut into faceted rods which were bound together to form geometric patterns. When the glue has set, the rods were sliced in transverse sections. This gave the maker a number of angled circular pieces in the original pattern. Several variations of patterns could be achieved by combining the materials in different ways. The ivory was sometimes dyed green to give an extra colour. The mosaic pieces in a combination of patterns, often separated by ivory, ebony, horn or silver stringing were used to veneer sandalwood boxes. In the early boxes, which date from the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, there are large panels of mosaic covering tops and sides of boxes. It took incredible skill to cover such large areas without any shakes or wavering of the pattern. The corners and joins on these boxes are impeccably matched.
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The main problem with sadeli decoration is that the pewter metal oxidises causing it to blacken and swell.
The samples below have been cleaned to show the delicacy of the original work. Such cleaning may be considered heresy in some quarters but my view is that it is never a bad thing to demonstate an artist’s original intent. The cleaning of old master paintings is now generally accepted. It is regrettable that most old pieces have missing sections of the sadeli inlay and this tends to detract from the appearance (and value) of the piece. Although damaged pieces can be used to harvest intact sadeli elements, this author has still not found a good way to transfer to the piece being considered for restoration.
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MYSORE (and the coastal region of Canara on the Malabar coast of western India). According to the Brihat Sanhita, a celebrated work on astronomy by Varaha Mihira dating to the sixth century A.D., one of the woods most esteemed by the Hindus of India is chandan [Santalum album, sandalwood]. Of these, sandalwood reigns supreme and was used generously in Hindu temples. In the western antiques trade, many boxes are grouped together under the general description of ‘Anglo Indian’. The term betrays a lack of specialist knowledge and therefore a shallow appreciation of the diversity of styles and skills exhibited in the sub continent during the British colonial period. It is difficult to pick out a single exemplar to represent an entire genre but we choose this one because we know so much about the material from which it is made and the craftsman who made it.
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True sandalwood (Santalum album) is a native of south east India and is considered sacred by the Hindus on account of its medicinal properties and delightful fragrance. It is a valuable tree associated with Indian culture. It is the second most expensive wood in the world. The heartwood of the tree is treasured for its aroma and is one of the finest natural materials for carving. Sandalwood oil is used in perfumes, cosmetics, aromatherapy and pharmaceuticals. The monopoly of sandalwood trade by the Governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and its consequences have resulted in severe exploitation, pushing S. album into the vulnerable category of the IUCN Red List. Like European limewood, it is prized by carvers because it yields readily to the sharp blade and feels anisotropic meaning that its grain is not pronounced. It should be noted that it is now very rare and enjoys government protection in the Mysore region where if is harvested for the production of sandalwood oil. Sandalwood is never varnished or polished. The carved surface is left in it’s natural state so that it can it exude its fragrace for decades. When fresh, it is a light pinkinsh color darkening to a chocolate color after a century or two, (as in this example). Many craftsmen have worked with this wood but one family stands out for their exquisit artistic sensitivity combined with an insane attention to detail. Many of the design elements in their carving approach the resolution limit of the human eye. This is attention to detail taken to an exceptional level requiring many more hours of sight impairing hours of work than would be needed to achieve an acceptable result. The Gudigar family of hereditary craftment trace their originas back to Goa in the 16thC. They are a micro minority that has depended mainly upon fine arts for making a living. Traditionally Gudigars were working in different fields of art while some were also into farming. Very few had depended upon other professions. Nowadays more and more Gudigars are in different jobs while a smaller number of Gudigars still pursue the traditional craft. From Goa, they migrated to Mysore and Canara to avoid the persistant pressure to adopt Christianity applied by the Portuguese colonial power in that area. Their devotion to Hindu iconography is always apparent in their work and continues to this day. The Gudigars still carve doors and fixtures for Hindu temples and even have a website proclaiming their historic skills and devotion to their craft.
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Carving Temple Doors
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Birdwood’s comments from 1880 are worth reporting: “Sandalwood and other Wood Carving. Sandalwood carving is chiefly carried on in the Bombay Presidency, at Surat, Ahmedabad, Bombay, and Canara and in the Madras Presidency, in Mysore and Travancore. It is applied to the same articles as the Bombay inlaid work. Indeed the generic term " Bombay boxes " includes the sandalwood carving of Ahmedabad, Surat, and Bombay, as well as inlaid wood; but wood carving is a far superior art to inlaying, and in India is as ancient as the temple architecture and the carved idols in which it probably originated. The Surat and Bombay work is in low relief, and the designs consist almost entirely of foliated ornament. The Canara and Mysore work is in high relief, the subjects being chiefly mythological.The Ahmedabad work, while in flat relief, is deeply cut, and the subjects are mixed floral and mythological; for instance, Krishna and the Gopies, represented not architecturally as in Canara carving, but naturally, disporting themselves in a luxuriant wood, in which each tree, while treated conventionally, and running into the general floral decoration, can be distinctly recognised. A line is drawn below the wood, and through the compartment thus formed a river is represented flowing, as on Greek coins, by an undulating band, on which tortoises, fishes, and water-fowl are carved in half relief. The best Canara carving comes from Compta, and the best Mysore, which is identical in every respect with that of Canara, from the town of Sorab in the Shimroga district. The most beautiful example of Mysore sandalwood carving ever seen in this country was a little cabinet exhibited by Major Puckle in the Annual International Exhibition of 1871. It was surmounted by a triangular headboard on which were carved Brahma and Saraswati in the centre, and Siva on Nandi on one side, and Siva and Vishnu coalesced in Krishna on the other; the outline of this headpiece being waved in a manner to represent the mystic triliteral monosyllable AUM. On either side of it was an elephant waving a chauri in its trunk and below it a narrow border on which were carved Lakshmi, Parvati, Garuda, Hanuman, and other of the gods, all in a row. On the right door of the cabinet Vishnu on Garuda, with Lakshmi by his side, was represented in the centre, surrounded by the forms of his ten avatars ; and on the left door, Siva on Nandi, with Parvati by his side, was represented in the centre, surrounded by the guardians of the eight quarters of the earth, Indra, Agni, Yama, Nirritu (who in Madras always takes the place of Surya), Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, and Isana (who in Madras always takes the place of Soma). The sandalwood carving of Travancore is perfectly naturalistic in style. A little sandalwood is carved at Morahabad in the North Western Provinces. Ebony is excellently carved at Bijnur, another town of the Rohilkhand division of the North-Western Provinces, and in a similar conventional style at Monghyr in Bengal. The designs on these boxes are generally geometrical and latterly I have seen them inlaid with ivory in the manner of the old Sicilian tarsia work.”
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This miniature Hindu scene is depicted in disturbing detail. Vishnu is shown with his consort Lakshmi while resting on Ananta, the immortal and infinite snake. He is flanked by duplicate images of Shiva holding the severed fifth head of Brahma who appears above observing the entire scene. The portrayal of figures such as these, even though they are gods, would have been anathema to muslim workers.
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Prize-winning casket of 1903. Notice how little the sandlewood has darkened in a century.
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A very British watch stand enhanced with high quality Indian workmanship. Carving resolution 40 cuts/inch (16 cuts / cm). Sandalwood 200 years old, much darker color.
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The Griffin is a mythical creature known as a half-eagle, halflion in various cultures. In legends and folklore, the beast guards the gold of the kings, as well as other priceless possessions. Yali is a mythical creature seen in many South Indian temples, often sculpted onto the pillars. It may be portrayed as part lion, part elephant and part horse, and in similar shapes. Also, it has been sometimes described as a leogryph (part lion and part griffin) with some bird-like features. Yalis became prominent in south Indian sculpture in the 16th century. Yalis were believed to be more powerful than the lion, the tiger or the elephant. They are depicted here on this Gudigar box in extraordinary detail.
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In order to achieve such a high degree of skill on woodcarving, several factors are in play. The carving tools need to be designed for the task and be perfectly sharp. The wood needs to be fine grained and strong and sandalwood is ideal in this situation. Well co-ordinated hands and sharp eyes are also necessary as is an understanding of time which is almost completely absent from western culture. We are preoccupied with productivity and pressure to get the job done. Traditional oriental craftsmen simply worked day in, day out until the job was completed to a high degree of perfection. Whether this was a woodblock printer in Japan, a carpet maker in Persia, or an Indian miniature painter, the quality of the completed item was the driving force, not the time it took to achieve it. Under British rule in India, this changed. The boxes and carvings of the 18th century show incredible attention to detail but as the 19th century progresses we see repetition of design and constructional shortcuts. How else was the commercial appetite of civil servants and people in the employ of the East India company to be satisfied?
This piece is interesting because it was made for, and sold in the Government Art workshop in Mysore where visitors can learn about sandalwood and see the factory where the essential oil is extracted. It has the original government label on the underside of the lid. The sandalwood trees are under the total protection and control of the goverment of Mysore.
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Open box of the Mysore Govnt shop showing label under lid.
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The Gudigars were able to achieve an astonishing level of detail in their carvings. Here, the ruler is graduated in centimeters showing that 16 cuts/ cm are made (40 cuts/inch). Not only are individual leaves dipicted but even the veins of the leaves are included.
Detail from the top panel of the casket shown opposite.
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It will be noted that all of the samples referenced here have sandalwood as the only material used. Ancient Indian texts give detailed directions for felling preferred trees at particular seasons, when their circulation is inactive; and for seasoning the wood afterwards, so as to prevent unequal contractions and cracks in drying. Trees which have been struck down by lightning, or toppled by inundations, storms, or elephants or which grow on burial, or burning, or other holy ground, or at the confluence of large rivers, or by the public road side; or which are withered at the top, or are entangled with heavy creepers ; or which have become the habitation of birds, or bees, etc, may not be used. Some trees, such as sandalwood are most auspicious when used singly; others when used jointly.
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Vizagapatam The ivory and wood craft industry of north east India dates back to the time when the Nawabs of Bengal had their court at Murshidabad. As this industry was fully dependent for its prosperity on the support of a luxurious court and wealthy noblemen, it had to face a crisis when the Nawabs lost their power and their court disappeared. During the early part of British rule, the ivory carvers of Murshidabad were also praised by colonial powers and found some amount of patronage.
Because the artisans of Vizagapatam had such illustious patrons, the preparation of a wooden box was considered to be just the starting point. It had to decorated, usually 100%, with rich and complex veneers which included sandalwood, ebony, ivory, horn, tortoiseshell, porcupine quills and occasionaly sadeli roundels and strips.
Made by Sivakoti Chandryya in Maharaja’s workshop Vizag c.1880
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Not only was Sivakoti Chandrayya a master carver, but he could read and write English at a time when many people in Britain were still illiterate. These boxes are intended to contain jewelery. The smaller one fits neatly inside the larger one and was to separate the rings from the other larger pieces. In this style, a layer of tortoiseshell forms an inter layer between the sandalwood and the ivory overlay.
A recurring feature of Vizagapatam work is the decoration of the ivory by etching designs into the ivory and filling it with black lacquer. This adds interest to an otherwise plain, white panel. Birdwood, writing in 1880, comments on Vizagapatam work: ‘Vizagapatam work in ivory, bison and staghorn, and porcupine quills, is applied to the same class of articles as Bombay inlaying, namely work boxes, tea caddies, desks, chess boards and a variety of fancy articles. It is of a very recent origin and the edging in black sgraffito on the Ivory is exclusively of European flower forms represented naturally in light and shade. The effect is seldom pleasing.’ The introduction and use of colored lacquers, notably red and orange, seems to indicate a later date c. 1900. Perforated or lattice patterns known as jali have been used in Islamic art and architecture for centuries but the designs tend to be repeated geometric elements quite unlike the flowing curvilinear designs whiched emerged on Indian boxes from c.1850 onwards. We believe the similarity of the ivory fretwork to western lace is not a coincidence. It began to appear on the boxes of Vizagapatam in about 1860 almost a decade since the art of lacemaking was introduced close to visit a pattern in the mid-1800s.
Godavari is a small town about 200km south west of Vizagapatam. Lacemaking was introduced to the Godavari women by Scottish missionaries in the mid 1800’s. The craft is still practiced in Narasapur, a tiny township in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, on the right bank of Godavari. Following a series of representations by local people, the Ministry of Rural Development established a ‘Lace Park’ here in 2003, the first of its kind in India. It isn’t too much of a stretch to see how the introduction of lacemaking influenced the ivory carvers of Vizagapatam to create similaly delicate patterns in their local medium. Lacemaking is typically carried out using white cotton of similar appearance to ivory.
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Ladies making lace in Godivara today
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The small one lives inside the large one and isolates the small rings from the larger pieces of jewelry
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In this technically difficult octagonal box, the ivory decoration and edge supports are attached directly to the sandalwood foundation using silver pins.
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Relatively easy to find and nice variety for collection
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This masterpiece reflects the late 19th and early 20th-century shift in Vizagapatam workshops towards carving caskets with scenes from Hindu mythology. It is a sobering thought that every decorative perforation in the ivory began by drilling a hole, threading a fine saw blade through it and tightening up the blade, cutting out the shape, releasing and removing the saw blade then beginning the process again with the next hole. For the fretwork alone, this needed to be repeated approximetely 2,500 times.
It was almost certainly made at the workshop of Gangula Ramalingam.
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Monghyr The output from the craftsmen of Monghyr is very little known in the west and yet highly recogniseable and worthy of recognition. It is mentioned in Birdsworth… “The cabinet work of Monghyr in Bengal is well known. The principal woods used there are tal or palm [Borassus flabelliformis] and ebony, and European articles of furniture are made of them which are highly prized in Calcutta”. The town of Monghyr is conveniently situated on the bend of the Ganges river and was a stopping point for foreigners, particularly British civil servants, traveling on the river boats between Calcutta and Delhi. However a railroad was opened in 1855 which bypassed the town and severely reduced the trade for the Monghyr craftsmen who were obliged to find other forms of work. Therefore we can fairly confidently date the following pieces to the first half of the 19th century before the railroad robbed the craftsmen of their market. It is recorded that these craftsmen were better inlayers than carvers. The reason is that this town has a long history of producing firearms (especially rifles) of high quality. The wooden parts required little carving but elaborate inlay work for decoration was highly developed. This decoration skill was put to good use producing boxes, walking sticks, and other small items for the passing trade. The repertoire of graphic elements is very limited and characteristic consisting of leafy scrollwork with the occasional bird or butterfly included. The contrast between these simple but effective designs on a dark wood background is striking and instantly recogniseable as originating in Monghyr. The typical wood used is Abnoos (Indian ebony).— As with the generic term ‘rosewood’ the term ‘ebony’ covers several species of tree. In this case. we are considering Diospyros melanoxylon which is a large tree, producing a sweet fruit like grapes. Its leaves resemble those of the Sinobir, but are somewhat broader: it is an evergreen, and its wood is, when good and full-grown, dark-colored and durable; its leaves are smooth and glassy. It is also known as coromandel and its heartwood is always dark but may show different colorations and striations according to where it grows. In southern India and Ceylon it yields the totally black wood commonly associated with ebony but in the north (Monghyr is north of Calcutta) climatic conditions and soil type cause the wood to be more of a chocolatey color with occasional streaks. It can be confused with Indian rosewood (Dalbergia sissoo) but has less red in it.
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On this piece, the craftsman has conveniently carved stylised leaves of Diospyros Melanoxylon (ebony) on the cupboard doors. Circa 1835.
Dalbergia melanoxylon leaf and fruit.
DETAILS This 19th century, table-top miniature cabinet (only 18” tall) is crafted with double doors which open to a drop leaf writing slope and a drawer below. There is a removable shelf behind the writing slope. Notice the interesting, small brackets flanking the doors. Of the highest quality, this little piece is a treasure for the discerning collector. Catering to the tastes of Europeans traveling on the route between Calcutta and Delhi, the remarkable artisans of Monghyr (Munger) created small furniture pieces of rare ebony, intricately inlaid with ivory tracery; the finest of artistry.
Ref: A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, 2001. p. 235-37.
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Generally these pieces were small making them convenient for travelers to transport but occasionally, large versions can be found (see below).
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Contemporary English sources state that these craftsmen used three local woods; ebony (Diospyros melanoxylon), paisar (Pterocarpus marsupium), sisu (Dalbergia sissoo) and kathal (artocarpus integrifolia). Pterocarpus marsupium is a tree producing a very valuable timber often planted by the Indian forestry today. This is one of 33 species of rosewood named as being a suitable Hongmu (red wood) timber, used for producing high quality Chinese furniture following traditions from the Ming and Qing dynasty, which makes it a particularly valuable wood. Dalbergia sissoo is an Indian variety and should not be confused or compared with Dalbergia latifolia. Although Dalbergia sissoo yields a good medium hard timber it is a relatively inexpensive one when compared with Dalbergia latifolia and the Indian souvenir trade sells objects made of it as if they were rosewood hence D.sissoo variety is called Indian Rose Wood. Artocarpus integrifolia is commonly known as jackfruit. The tree is fast growing usually yielding a fairly light colored wood and isn’t usually considered a fine, tropical hardwood.
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Bombay Glove box sandalwood inlaid with ivory and sadeli, Bombay, c.1867. cf, this reference sample from the V&A Museum, London.
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A persistent feature of decorated wooden boxes from Bombay is the use of sadeli. This is a micro-mosaic feature introduced to Bombay from Shiraz in Persia where it has a history of many centuries. The technique is still practiced in Syria and Iran where it is more commonly known as Khatam Kari and has a slightly different visual appearance from the designs carried our in India. The first step in creating a Sadeli mosaic is preparing thin rods by scraping lengths of ivory, bone or wood into the desired shape, usually triangular. Artisans then glue these long thin rods together with animal glue, then slice them transversely to form a repeat pattern. To get variety and contrast, they used woods like ebony and rosewood, along with natural and green-stained bone and ivory. Often they mixed in circular shaped rods of silver, pewter or tin. Finally, they would glue the slices onto the surface of a wooden box. Craftsmen would then scrape the surface of the slices to level slight variations. The process can be seen on YouTube videos as it is still actively practiced today. In freshly prepared sadeli, the small mosaics are clearly defined but, with the passage of time, the metal elements oxidise and what was originally shiney turns black. The metal oxide is more voluminous than the original metal causing it to rise up above the original surface. The extent to which this happens provides an indications of the age of the piece.
The exterior of the box illustrated above is decorated with two sunbursts with alternating rays of wood and ivory inlaid with sadeli, a geometric micromosaic composed of various woods, metals and ivory. Decorative boxes of this type well widely made in western India, especially in and around Bombay, for which reason they were described under the blanket heading ‘Bombay boxes’. This box of wood has an exterior of parquetry of wood, ivory and Sadelia with ivory, the interior lined with sandalwood, with silver and brass lock and hinges. A box of similar design but with only a single starburst, was exhibited at the Universal exhibition, Paris in 1867 and so must have been made prior to that date.
The work spread to other centers in the Bombay Presidency and by the middle of the 19th century, an enterprising Parsee (Persian) introduced the work to Calcutta and sent some boxes to the 1851 London Great Exhibition. The Calcutta work consisted of sadeli patterns set into wood and ivory. From a dating perspective, boxes fitted with large panels of sadeli micromosaics tend to be earlier dating to the 18thC. Great skill was required not only to create the
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small repeating elements but also to arrange them accurately at corners , a challenge well known to carpet weavers paying attention to the borders. The early 19thC reduced the use of sadeli elements to roundels, diamond shapes or running borders. Later boxes veneered in ivory (as seen in these examples), date to the second half of the 19thC as evidenced by the fact the the metal elements are less oxidised and present a fresher and crisper appearance.
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Because contemporary records are so scarce, it is worth quoting Birdsworth at length given his excrutiatingly detailed comments on Bombay work in 1880. “A good deal of ornamental furniture is also made in Bombay inlaid work so familiar now in the ubiquitous glove boxes, blotting cases, book stands, work boxes, desks, and card cases, which go by the name of "Bombay boxes." They are made in the variety of inlaid wood work, or marquetry or tarsia, called pique, and are not only pretty and pleasing, but interesting, on account of its having been found possible to trace [see my paper in the Journal of Bombay Astatic Society, vol. vii, 1861-63] tne introduction of the work into India from Persia, step by step, from Shiraz into Sindh, and to Bombay and Surat. In Bombay the inlay is made up of tin wire, sandal-wood, ebony, sappan [brazil] wood, ivory, white, and stained green, and stag's horn. Strips of these materials are bound together in rods, usually three-sided, sometimes round, and frequently obliquely four-sided, or rhombic. They are again so arranged in compound rods as when cut across to present a definite pattern, and in the mass have the appearance of rods of varying diameter and shape, or of very thin boards, the latter being intended for borderings. The patterns commonly found in Bombay, finally prepared for use, are chakar-gul, or "round bloom ; " katki-gul, "hexagonal bloom ;" tinkonia-gul, "three-cornered bloom;" adhi-dhar-gul, "rhombus bloom;" chorus-gul, " square [matting-like] bloom ; " tiki, a small round pattern ; and gandirio, " plump," compounded of all the materials used ; also " one grain," having the appearance of a row of silver beads set in ebony ; and port lihurjafran marapech, jeri, baelniutana, sankru hajisio, and poro hansio, these eight last being bordering patterns. The work was introduced into Sindh from Shiraz, about 100 years ago, by three Multanis, Pershotum Hiralal, and the brothers Devidas and Valiram. A number of people acquired the art under them, and about seventy years ago it was introduced into Bombay by Manoredas, Nandlal, Lalchand, Thawardas, Rattan ji, Pranvalab, and Narrondas, who educated a number of Parsis and Surat men, by whom it was carried to Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, and elsewhere.
Fifty masters, all of whose names I have recorded and about 75 apprentices under them, were engaged in the work in Bombay in 1863, of whom Atmaram Vuliram and Parshostram Chilaram had been established in the Kalbadavi ward ever since its introduction sixty years before. One of the most intelligent craftsmen at present in the trade is Framji Hirjibhai. In Surat there are thirteen families of inlayers, of whom eight are Parsis and five Hindus. Tin wire is used in Western India in the work instead of brass, as in Persia, where also it is always varnished. The same inlaid work is made in Egypt and Algiers, and it is similar to the tarsia or marquetry of Italy and Portugal, and the Roman work known as opus cerostrotum. It is also, I believe, identical with the inlaid work of Girgenti and Salerno, although in this the patterns are floral, and not geometrical, for I found by a comparison of the two varieties in Paris, that there was not a single geometrical pattern in the Bombay work which cannot be traced back to a flower in the work of Girgenti and Salerno. The Egyptians also obviously worked in tarsia. The art is said to have died out of Europe, and to have been again reintroduced at Venice from the East. More probably it remained an unbroken tradition in the Mediterranean, and was revived by the Saracens. At Goa, rare old caskets, coffers, and other examples of it, of the same style as the Portuguese sixteenth and seventeenth century tarsia, and evidently the works of patient Hindu hands, are sometimes to be found by the insidious virtuoso, but otherwise there is not a trace of such articles, so far as I am aware, in India, except what has come during the last 120 years from Persia.”
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Nagina Because the iconic boxes of Nagina are made of ebony (or blackened wood masquerading as ebony), a few words are in order to clarify some popular misconceptions about this ebony wood. Ebony is the black heartwood of several species of trees of the genus Diospyros (family Ebenaceae), widely distributed in the tropics. The best is very heavy, almost black. Because of its color, durability, hardness, and ability to take a high polish, ebony is used for cabinetwork and inlaying, piano keys, knife handles, and turned articles. The best Indian and Ceylon ebony is produced by Diospyros ebenum which grows in abundance west of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. Much of the East Indian ebony is yielded by the Coromandel ebony tree (D. melanoxylon). Diospyros melanoxylon is known as ‘abnoos’ in India. It grows in Coimratore, in the Bombay forests north of Canara, in Malabar and in Ganjam which lies on the East coast NE of Vizagapatam. The wood is hard and black and boxes are made of it. The fruit is edible. In the western antiques trade, coromandel and calamander are interchangeable but they are different tree species the latter being the calamander tree (D. quaesita) which produces an ebony wood of fine hazel-brown colour, mottled and striped with black. Centers of wood carving in Uttar Pradesh include Aligarh, Azamgarh, Nagina, Lucknow and Saharanpur. Nagina exhibits a graceful style of carving in ebony on many articles like tables, chairs, boxes, beds, etc. The motifs are mostly floral and sometimes geometrical. The place, Nagina always had a problem of transportation due to which the craftsmen made small decorative pieces as they became easier to carry. Nagina’s craft dates back 300 - 400 years to the Mughal times but with the shift in consumer base and low availability of real ebony, sheesham is now mostly used instead of ebony. The range of these finely carved pieces has moved towards simpler trinket boxes and small items such as combs. Nagina means "Jewel". This place was named by Syed Ghalib Ali who received this place as Gift from Mughals. He founded the city and built the Nagina Castle. Nagina in Uttar Pradesh, India is also known as 'Wood Craft City'. It has deeper and rich cultural impact on the art and craft traditions of India.
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This ebony box and matching table is from Nagina in what is now called Uttar Pradesh. The box has a fragrant sandalwood lining and is probably the work of Muhammad Abdullah c1860.
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The carvers of Nagina were Muslims and so unable to depict the natural forms so enjoyed by their Hindu partners. Instead, they made shallow carvings but of great intracacy resembling lace. This is illustrated in George Watt, 'Indian Art at Delhi', Calcutta 1903, pl.24. As Watt notes, “It was striking that the muslim craftsmen produced such fine quality objects in a small povertystricken village, far from a large city, wealthy patrons and raw materials. After the 1857 uprising against the colonizing British, the manufacture of arms was prohibited in India, the craftsmen of Nagina turned their skill from metal carving on guns to wood carving. Ebony was the wood of choice as it was local to Nagina being sourced in the Shivalik range. Although Ebony is hard to carve and splits easily the craftsmen of Nagina excelled in producing carving that confounded contemporary critics back in Europe, especially given that these items were being made on the street with very little in the way of equipment, it was clearly superior to what Europeans could produce. Unfortunately the art was lost around 1900's, some carving still takes place there now but the quality is nowhere near what it was back in the 1860’s-1890’s." The craftsmen (and women!) of Nagina trace their outstanding wood carving craft tradition back to the Mughal era. It is believed that some of the wood carvers moved from Iran to Uttar Pradesh and settled in Nagina and nearby villages, where Indian rosewood was readily available. Today, woodcarving is still the main activity of the villages in this area but ebony and even rosewood are rarely used. Mostly they use Mango wood which has a good and strong heartwood and the great benefit of reaching maturity in less than ten years. The quality of intricate carving is nothing like it was in the 19th century when the author’s boxes were made but this is the fault of economic pressure rather than lack of skill on the part of the workers. It may seem odd to see them squatting cross-legged on the floor where the only electrical appliance is a single lightbulb but this is the lot of many craftsman in the Far East. I have visited violin and bow makers in Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou and their work environment is similarly sparse. It is easy to think that luxury derives from luxury but that is not how it works. Historically it is poverty and long hours that produce luxury for those who can afford it. ‘True’ ebony, Diospyros ebenum is found in the south of India and Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka. Nagina is located in the north of India, northeast of Delhi not far from the Himalayas.
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A typical workshop in modern day Nagina.
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HOSHIARPUR The district of Hoshiarpur, close to the border with Pakistan, produces dark Sheesham furniture with detailed dense foliage patterns that are both engraved and inlaid. Today the inlay is mostly acrylic but in the 19th century they used Ivory. The motifs are either of Persian origin or adaptations of the exquisite woodcarvings in the havelis, mansions, of Hoshiarpur. When the craft came to this region, the woodworkers inlaid with Ivory remnant bought from the ivory carvers of Amritsar. No Ivory is used anywhere in India following the international ban on Ivory in 1989. The most distinctive craft used as a docorative element in Hoshiarpur woodcraft is tarkashi. The origins of the art of Tarkashi is unclear but historians agree it has its roots in northern India where it is still practiced. It is the art of inlaying brass and copper wires into wood. It is always done on hardwoods. The wire is hammered into a pattern engraved on dark Sheesham wood. The wires sit flush within the surface. Engraving is done with small chisels. The surface is finished by buffing but care is taken so that the surface does not heat up and dislodged the wires.
Hammering the wires into the wood. Notice the use of the foot for stabilising the work piece.
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The box in this illustration was inlayed freehand by the craftsman. The designs were not even drawn on the wood surface. The work on this box took almost two months to complete. As with most crafts, the rising cost of materials and the need to increase productivity necessarily mean that the quality and complexity of the inlay work today is not as complex or detailed as can be found on antique pieces. In Saharanpur and Nagina the designs are mostly floral and not very intricate. In Manipuri where the craft originated, the tarkashi is very fine.
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Although this casket opposite dating to c.1880 seemed expensive when I bought it, a similar one sold Christies in London for £4750 even though the pre sale estimate was only £1200-£1800. That is because the quality of the work put into these boxes is beginning to be well understood. The box, made of shisham, a type of wood native to India and related to blackwood, is extensively inlaid in ivory and ebony with floral designs within geometric borders. It stands on four feet, has a hinged lid. The edges are inlaid with alternating rosewood and ivory strips. The front, back and sides are all similarly inlaid. The interior has several compartments similarly inlaid with ivory, a mirror bordered by wooden fretwork.
This similar but smaller box was presented by Hoshiarpur District to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee. It has been on loan from the Royal Collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum since 1924. (NB The Royal Collection box is illustrated in Jaffer, A., Furniture from British India and Ceylon: A Catalogue of the Collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, Timeless Books, 2001, p. 291). Queen Victoria’s box is of high-quality 19th century work, but only the edging chevrons are pinned but the one in the author’s collection pictured opposite has every small piece of Ivory inlay secured with a small pin.
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The brass corner brackets were inspired by British campaign chests of the period.
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Under British patronage, craftsmen began to apply their skills to western-style articles such as decorative boxes, tables, screens and small cabinets. Such goods found a ready market, not only among the British in the Panjab and major cities, but also at international exhibitions and shops in London and New York that specialised in oriental 'curiosities'. In the late 19th century, towns such as Hoshiarpur and Chiniot became centres of manufacture for vast quantities of inlaid or carved woodwork aimed at foreign markets, while Delhi and Amritsar monopolised the production and trade in solid ivory articles such as caskets and gift boxes.
Photo opposite shows a typical worker in Hoshiarpur today. The photo was taken when America still commanded some respect and admiration in the world. Note the simplicity of traditional working methods. Following the ban on ivory in 1989, these workers only use acrylic as a substitute and glue the pieces into place instead of pinning them
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CHINIOT
The Punjab region, now divided between India and Pakistan, takes its name from the Persian for the 'five rivers' (panj ab) that flow through it. Its geographical position as the north-western gateway to the sub-continent means that invasions and wars have often swept across its plains, as have migrating peoples, ideas and aesthetic influences. The Panjab was an important province of the Mughal empire. The city of Lahore was the northern capital where the emperor and the royal family often resided, building extensive forts and palaces. Later, Ranjit Singh was proclaimed Maharaja of the Panjab in Lahore, not far from the spiritual heart of the Sikh kingdom, Amritsar. Eventually the region become part of the British Empire. All this has influenced the rich art of the region.
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Wood carving Due to their position at the foothills of the sub-Himalayan forests, towns in northern Panjab evolved rich woodworking traditions. Techniques practised included wood carving, ivory carving and inlaying wood with ivory and brass. Traditionally these techniques were used for the decoration of doors and columns in household interiors. However, under British patronage, craftsmen began to apply their skills to westernstyle articles such as decorative boxes, tables, screens and small cabinets. Such goods found a ready market, not only among the British in the Panjab and major cities, but also at international exhibitions and shops in London and New York that specialised in oriental 'curiosities'. In the late 19th century, towns such as Hoshiarpur and Chiniot became centres of manufacture for vast quantities of inlaid or carved woodwork aimed at foreign markets, while Delhi and Amritsar monopolised the production and trade in solid ivory articles such as caskets and gift boxes. Chiniot favored the use of sheesham wood (Dalbergia Sissoo). Shisham wood is from the deciduous tree of the sub-Himalayan tract. It is a durable wood, which does not warp or split and is one of the most esteemed woods used for furniture making in the north of India along with deodar (Himalayan cedar). While Rosewood is more commonly found furniture and wares of the south, inlaid and wood carving from Saharanpur, Farakhabad, Lucknow, Chiniot, Hoshiapur and Jallandar would be based on shisham wood. Due to these talented and hardworking people Pakistan is globally very famous for its wood carving especially wood work of Swat, Gujrat and Chiniot. Swat is famous for its dark black, sturdy and hued walnut tree wood and products made with this wood with beautiful and charming carving including jewelry boxes, furniture, doors, window panes, swings and balconies etc.Chiniot Pakistan was once famous for the manufacture of boats and bows for both civil and military purposes. That tradition died out long ago. However, it still remains a veritable center of wood-carving and masonry Specimens of wood-carving include decorated doors, carved and foliated tracery for balconies and window frames. Inlay of brass is also wrought in Shisham wood of dark hue which provides an excellent base for the contrast of brass. All varieties of furniture of fine quality and requisite designs are undertaken at Chiniot Pakistan.
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This tiny box is only 5” x 3” and yet is astounding for its decorative complexity. The lid contains three types of sadeli roundels, each with a metal surround, tarkashi inlay using copper and brass wires also mother of pearl wings to four of the sadeli roundels. The box is made of Indian rosewood lined with a veneer of an unknown burl wood
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As with the example on the facing page, this example displays the same virtuosy use of tarkashi wire inlay. The form of a box containing decorated drawers with a drop leaf front is based on a Portuguese vergueno which entered India via Goa.
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Galle
This fine box of ebony (Diospyros Celebica) with rounded corners is carved extravagantly on all sides and on the hinged lid with bold flower and leaf designs. It is a superb example of colonial carved ebony woodwork of a type associated with the southern Sri Lankan port town of Galle and dating to around 1800. It has an excellent patina, and some natural variation in the grain to the lid with some lighter streaking. The base is of ebonised wood. Boxes such as this example were used in Sri Lanka by ladies to store jewellery and hair ornaments. Later, they were commissioned for the colonial market as well. They tended to be made by Tamil woodcarvers who were members of the Karava caste (Veenendaal, 2014, p. 32). Carved ebony furniture has been recorded in English collections from as early as the mid-eighteenth century. As Jaffer (2001) points out, this type of furniture was thought to be Elizabethan but is now recognised as being either of Indo-Portuguese, Batavian, Sri Lankan or Coromandel Coast origin. Distinguishing between items of carved ebony furniture made in Sri Lanka, Batavia or the Coromandel Coast is difficult because Dutch administrators and merchants are likely to have taken as personal effects furniture produced in the Coromandel Coast region to other Dutch settlements in Sri Lanka and Batavia where it was extensively copied.
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Similar quality craftsmanship, partly available from indentured Tamil craftsmen taken by the VOC to all three destinations, was available in all three places as was ebony wood (Jaffer, 2001). However, this box does have flower motifs that are definitely of Sri Lankan origin. This example is extraordinary in that the lid is not flat but gently convex on the top and deeply carved on the inside - a virtuoso performance! A box of similar proportions and with deep carving is on display in the National Museum of Sri Lanka in Colombo.
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In contrast to ‘ebony’ which is basically black with occasional light streaks, calamander is the opposite being a light blond color with dramatic dark streaks.
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Srinagar The small trinket boxes usually made in Kashmir consisted of decorated papier mache.
In this case, the foundation for the box was crafted from a light weight soft wood such as Poplar, Deodar, Fir, Pine which all grow in Kashmir. In general, softwoods are non-porous woods because they lack vessels. They consist of tracheid’s and wood rays but lack vessels. This allows softwoods to absorb adhesives quickly, resulting in a better finish. The base material is therefore ideal for box making as it is easily worked and more robust that papier mache but it has a plain appearance crying out for surface decoration. In this case, the wood has been lacquered in the Japanese style by first applying a fine cloth to the surface with adhesive in order to impart a good ‘key’ to which the lacquer can adhere. Once dry, the lacquer has been meticulously decorated with many colors. It was then overcoated with clear lacquer before final gilded details were applied). Jubbar Khan & Sons had the best craftsmen working for them and even to this day, their products stand as testimony to the fine, painstaking craftsmanship of its
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workers, many of whom were Chinese. This accounts for the frequent (and confusing) presence of Chinese motifs such as dragons and Chinese characters on carved woodwork, though less so in the lacquered objects. The labels of Jubbar Khan and other craft shops in Srinagar indicated they they were located at the ‘3rd bridge’. There are many bridges crossing the Jhelum River which winds its way through the city. One should not imagine that the so-called 3rd bridge is like the Rialto bridge in Florence with many shops built on it. We can see from photos taken c. 1900 that the buildings were located on the banks close to the bridge. There were bustling bazars and shops where Jubbar Khan’s outlet was based.
Oddly enough, there were shops on the 4th Bridge but Jubbar Khan’s labels state his proximity to the 3rd Bridge.
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Wood carving in Kashmir is a craft dating back to the Moghal empire. The wood of choice for Kashmiri wood carving is walnut (juglans nigra). Not only does this tree variety produce a highly prized dark hardwood but it also delivers regular crops of nutritious nuts. Being a hardwood, it allows precise and detailed carving and takes a fine polish when the work is complete. There are three types of carving. The first is rather flat and consists of little more than engraved outlines. The second is more three dimensional but still flat enough th resist chipping or upending a glass resting on its surface. The third is the most complex and allows the carver to express maximum virtuosity. It is highly undercut to the point where some elements of the design seem to take flight and soar about the structural surface of the wood. The box illustrated here demonstrates this on the top whereas the sides and interior make use of the second type. It still bears the label of Habib Joo & Sons and depicts a spray of iris flowers which are so realistic they seem to be just resting on the surface of the box.
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The interior of this box depicts the leaves of the famous Chinar trees (a type of maple) much loved by Kashmiris and frequently appearing in their art. British troops were stationed in Kashmir following the independence of India in 1947 and the troubled partition resulting in the state of Pakistan. The British officers often commissioned trinket boxes to take home to England, as in this case.
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Srinagar carvers - Photo taken in 1948.
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Kashmir borders with China/Tibet and Chinese influence often appears in the designs. Boxes with dragons and Chinese characters are often mistaken for Chinese origin rather than Kashmiri.
Contemporary display of hand carved products in Srinagar taken from a promotional youtube video.
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Nettur Almost implicit in the term ‘anglo-indian’ is the notion that boxes made during the British colonial period in India would be to British taste and intended for the British market. Oddly, the next type of box predates the British Raj and also outlived it without suffering substantial change. These highly distinctive boxes were/are unashamedly Indian and aimed at the Persian and Arabian markets directly across the Arabian Sea from the Malabar Coast. They have nothing to do with the ‘dowry boxes’ of Rajastan although they are frequently described as such in the western antiques trade. The state currently known as Kerala has long cultural tradition. The Portuguese arrived in the 15thC, were replaced by the Dutch in the 17thC and in the 19thC the British absorbed the Malabar Coast into the Madras Prisidency but throughout these political changes the people, speaking their own language of Malayalam, and remained, like the Scots and Jews, a matriarchal race in which woman commanded wealth and respect. The small village of Nettur situated on the Malabar coast in the state of Kerala has the distinction of having devised a very distinct and unusual box used by the women, temples and noble families for storing jewels and other precious items. It is believed that the boxes were also exported to Persia and Arabia. These handmade boxes were traditionally made of rosewood and the majority continue to be made this way too. However, jackfruit wood, mahogany and teak wood can also be used today. Brass is used for the embellishments that decorate the exterior of the boxes. Everything including the locks, handles, nails and hinges for these boxes are made by hand. In the local language, a box is called ‘petti’ so these distinctive boxes are generally know as nettur petti. The shape of the distinctive lids of these boxes is inspired by the roofs of houses typical of that area of India.
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This earlier example does not have the traditional roof lid but uses much of the same vernacular (teak construction, cast brass key and corner strengtheners etc) familiar to the local craftsmen.
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The craft for making the traditional ‘roof lid’ boxes is still alive and well. The following description of the boxes and process for making the boxes (all made by hand, even the nails cast and hammered) is provided by Mr. Sunny Kolakur of Veena Murali Decors based in Chennai.
"Netoor Petti
represents Kerala’s royal heritage. It was originally a part of the Royal households used to store their precious gems. Named after the place of its origin, Nettoor, a village near Kozhikode the Nettoor Petti is a traditional jewelry box of Kerala. Traditionally used by the women of aristocratic families this jewel box is an adept mix of aesthetics and efficacy. A work of art in itself, it is the result of the skillful labour of many. Each stage of this production demands absolute dedication and dexterity. Many works are performed by hand: the hinges and nails are crafted by hand. The boxes are fashioned out of rosewood and other country woods. Once the woodwork is completed the decorative polished brass elements are affixed onto it. The pyramidal lid requires special mention as it embellishes the box with a grandiose impression. The ornamental work on the exterior of Nettoor Petti and its intricate patterns are inspired by the temple architecture and traditional art forms of Kerala. It involves complicated mathematical relationships, highly skilled artistry of metal casting and the intricacy of freehand painting. History The tale must be traced back to the days of mushiga dynasty formerly known as Kolathiris now known as Chirakkal Rajahs. Etymologically ‘Nettur Pettti’ depicts the origin, Nettur is a place situated near Talasseri and ‘Petti’ means box so literal meaning is box made at Nettur. There are few other strong evidences which prove that this particular craft is originated in Kolathiri dynasty. The design influences can be traced in the architectural detailing at temples of north Kerala; the influence of mural paintings and the design influence of folk ritualistic performance ‘theyyam’. At present there is no artisan working on or making Nettur petti in north Kerala; the craft survives only in a few parts of southern Kerala. This craft travelled to south Kerala in the 14th century according to historical evidence. A celebrated ancestor of the Travancore family King Sangamadheera installed two princesses as his successors. At the time, Travancore was known as Kupaka kingdom and was not considered as strictly Malayali in culture. Its rulers and people had affinity towards Tamil society, and Sangamadheera himself had married a Pandya princess, also wining the proudest victories beyond the eastern frontiers of Kerala. The Kolathiri Rajah, therefore, is believed to have been loath to send two of his sisters into a near Tamil family, and it was through clever deception and artful intrigue that Sangamadheera orchestrated their acquisition. Perhaps as a consolation, however, it was decided to protect the adoptees in an insulated cocoon of their own, away from the Tamil influences they so abhorred. A portion of the Kupaka kingdom with its headquarters at Attingal was carved out and a miniature version of Kalahari country was skillfully designed within. Not only was
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Thirivirattukkavu Bhagavati consecrated here as the principle goddess, but even soldiers, retainers, artisans, craftsmen, slaves and other moral factors were brought all the way from the homeland of the princesses, instead of being recruited locally. This part of the history of Kerala is to show how the authentic Malabar box or Nettur Petti travelled from North Kerala to South Kerala
Nettur Petti Nettur Petti is a wooden box made with some particular mathematical compositions followed by the rules of ‘Tachusastram’ an ancient architecture science followed in Kerala. Nettur Petti is also known as Malabar box or Amaadapetti in different parts of Kerala. The construction and shape of the box is compared to a traditional Kerala house and the measurements are also followed the same principles. Making Process Wood selection is important and the ones mainly used are rosewood, Jack wood, Jungle Jack and Mahogany, which are locally sourced. There are some criteria for selecting wood. Any bend or decay found on wood eliminates it for making Nettur petti because that will affect the structure and finishing of the box. A hardwood like rosewood, by its variety of colors, textures and grain patterns can be used for the final box without any need for painted decoration. Its appearance, rich earthy colours, durability and ease of construction makes the wood an appreciated part of the whole crafting of Nettur Petti. Once the wood is selected, it is cut into planks. The lower part of petti consist of 7 pieces whereas the upper part consists of 4 pieces. According to the quantity of orders the cutting is done either manually or with the help of machine. The surfaces of the planks are evened out by scraping the uneven parts with the use of cheevuli (Plainer). Once the planks are evened out and cut into individual pieces in required shapes, making of top lid and lower box can begin. The making of the top portion of the box is a complicated process because four pieces of wood have to be joined simultaneously. The edges of the pieces have biased finishing to obtain a fine structure. The top of the Nettur petti is constructed in a shape of the roof of traditional Kerala house architecture. The angles are made with help of the tool ‘gushimattom’ and the biased finishing the edges are done by cheevuli. Later on with the help of ‘pozhichuli’ groves are made so the top portion can accurately sit with the lower part of the box which will give an intact locking system also. Painting The motifs and colour schemes used in Nettur petti is inspired from Kerala mural paintings. Enamel pigments are mostly used. The colors used are red, yellow, orange, black and green. The design inspirations are flora and fauna and occasional use of elephant motifs. The painting of Nettur petti starts with making a fine surface. First a layer of gum is applied on the box thoroughly and good quality canvas is spread on it evenly. Once it is dry and well adhered to the wooden surface, a mixture of chalk powder and gum is applied and multiple layers are made like this. Drying may take a day or two. Once
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the surface is dried well enough, orange colour is painted on the surface. Once the paint is dry the surface of the box is smoothed with fine sandpaper to give a smooth surface finish which will help to create flawless design illustrations. After finishing the smoothing process, once again orange colour is painted on the box and dried. Illustrating designs on the surface takes time because it is absolutely done freehand.”
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A contemporary craftsman shaping the triangular side of the roofed lid of a Nettur petti. Note the lack of power tools and the judgment of the complex angles purely by eye.
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