Research Catalog

Title

Delight in design : Indian silver for the Raj / [Vidya Dehejia ; with Dipti Khera, Yuthika Sharma, Wynyard Wilkinson].

Author

Dehejia, Vidya.

Publication

Ahmedabad : Mapin Publishing in association with Timeless Books ; Ocean Township, N.J. : Grantha, 2008.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Khera, Dipti.
• Sharma, Yuthika.
• Wilkinson, Wynyard R. T.
• Wallach Art Gallery.

Description

223 pages : illustrations (some color), map; 30 cm

Summary

"Delight in Design is a richly Illustrated volume that focuses on the remarkable ornamented silverware produced by Indian craftsmen during the period of the British Raj. Silversmiths created elegant silver tea services, bowls, wine and water ewers, beer mugs, and goblets to adorn the sideboard or mantelpiece in a British Raj home, producing European forms fulfilling European requirements. These same silversmiths then adopted a unique manner of embellishing these objects with a variety of different motifs that reflected local taste and carried a recognizably local pattern. A tea service made in Kutch would feature heavily embossed work, perhaps with a wonderful twisted snake as its handle, and a magnificent elephant head where its spout emerged from the pot. If made in Madras, the teapot would be decorated with images of gods being carried in temple processions to the accompaniment of music and dance, giving this ware the designation of Swami (god) silver. If from Calcutta, it would bear a series of rural scenes - men and women carrying water, husking grain, or ploughing fields, against a backdrop of palm trees and village huts."--BOOK JACKET.

Alternative Title

Indian silver for the Raj

Subjects

• Silverwork > India > History > 20th century > Exhibitions
• Silverwork > India > History > 19th century > Exhibitions
• Silverwork, Colonial > India > Exhibitions
• Decorative arts > India > Foreign influences > Exhibitions

Note

• "Published in conjunction with the exhibition ... held from 18 September - 13 December 2008 at the Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York"--Colophon.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-223).

Contents

Whose Taste? Colonial Design, International Exhibitions, and Indian Silver / Vidya Dehejia -- 'Designs to Suit Every Taste:' P. Orr & Sons and Swami Silverware / Dipti Khera -- A Cache Uncovered: Workshop Drawings of Oomersee Mawjee & Sons of Kutch / Vidya Dehejia -- 'A House of Wonder:' Silver at the Delhi Durbar Exhibition of 1903 / Yuthika Sharma -- Testimonial Plate: Swashbuckling Silver / Wynyard Wilkinson -- Catalog / Vidya Dehejia -- The Calling Card and the Ritual of the Call -- Tea and the Tea Service -- Regional Styles of Silverware -- Madras and Swami Silver -- Kutch Embossed Silverware -- Kashmir Silver: The 'Paisley,' and the Chinar Leaf -- Lucknow Silver: The Jungle, and the Hunt -- Alwar's Brief Experiment -- Calcutta Sliver and Rural Scenes -- Burmese Silver: The Jatakas and Ramayana -- Bombay's Assorted Silver Styles.

ISBN

• 9788189995195 (Mapin)
• 8189995197 (Mapin)
• 9780944142431 (Grantha)
• 9788189497194 (Timeless)
• 8189497197 (Timeless)
• 0944142435

OCLC

• ocn232983009
• 232983009
• SCSB-5434884

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries