183
SECTION III— COLOURED, PAINTED, STAINED, AND
GILDED WOODWORK.
Bengal Committee.
Necklaces (2). Lacquered wood. From Monghyr.
Bracelets, broach, and earrings. Coloured wood.
From Monghyr.
N.W. Provinces Local Committee.
Croquet sets (3). From Benares.
Candlesticks (2 pairs). From Benares.
Toys, Swings, &c., &c. From Benares.
Lala Hurmak Rai, Hushyarpur.
Fancy articles, boxes, &c. turned in shisham (Dalber-
gia) wood and lacquered in various colours.
The following is an outline of the process :—The
object to be lacquered is turned from hard wood,
usually shisham or box. After being smoothed
and cleaned it is again fixed in the turners frame
(a kind of lathe worked by hand), and made to
rotate. The sticks of lacquer colour (“batti”)
consisting of a mixture of lac, resin, colouring
matter, and, it is said, a certain proportion of
sulphur and bees’-wax, are then applied, tq the
rotating object; the heat produced by frictioii is
sufficient to soften the lacquer composition, which
attaches itself to the wood, producing, howeyer,
a dull and streaky appearance. When sufficient
colour has been applied, the surface of the article
is skilfully rubbed with a pieee of bamboo haying
a fine edge, by which the colour is evenly dis-
tributed, and a polish produced, which is finally
completed with oiled rags.
To produce the mottled appearance so much
admired, a colour stick of a rather harder com
position than that used for producing a uniform
colour is lightly pressed against the rotating
object, so as to detach a point here and there.
This is repeated with sticks of different colours,
and when sufficient colour has been laid on, the
object is polished with bamboo edges and oiled
rags, as stated in the preceding paragraph.
(Abstracted from Baden Powells’ Manufactures.)
Dr. Leitner, Lahore.
Two Sind lacquered wooden boxes.
Kashmiri painted wooden box.
Several specimens of Pakpatan woodwork (Panjab).
This kind of work is fully represented elsewhere in
the section. The Sind work, if coarse in colouring,
makes attempts at the delineation of figures, which
the Pakpatan and Hushyarpur work of the Panjab
does not.
Government of Bombay.
Lacquered boxes. Single and in nests.
Lacquered Bezique box, box with set of
squaills, &c.
Lacquered crocquet set and humming tops. 1 g
Lacquered napkin rings and card trays. °
Lacquered rulers and map cases (nest of 5).
Lacquered flower vase, with nest of boxes (5)
in centre; on pedestal. (Two in number). j pq
Gold lacquered boxes (2 nests of 8 each). By Kurrum-
chund Moorjmull, Haidarabad, Sind.
. I «W '
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Lady Frere, London.
Lacquered map case.
Col. Michael, London.
Lacquered Burmese box.
Lacquered tray. From Kurnool.
GROUP IX.—STONE, EARTHENWARE, AND GLASS INDUSTRY.
SECTION L—STONE AND CEMENT WAKES.
Note on the Stone Industries of Agra. By H. G. j
Keene, Fellow of the University of Calcutta,
Author of the Moghul Empire, The Agra Guide,
&c.
Agra, with the neighbouring country from Gwalior
round by Jaipoor to Delhi, has long been the seat
of several very beautiful arts, which may be thus
classified :— .
1. Munubbut-karee.—The art of mlaying Lpart,
pass II, of nubt, an Arabic Word signifying “ to plant,
“ to cause to germinate ”].*
2. Jalee.—Pierced screen work in marble or sand
stone.
3. Soap-stone carving.—A new art.
* So Shakesfear. The Ghaias-ool Loghat and other Asiatic
authorities regavd the word as refernng to thingst rmsed from
the ground, like plants; it would thus lmply rilievo, such as
the Images on friezes, cameos, or coms. The Hindoo word w
puehchTkari, "adhcsive work,” pcrhaps a corruption of pur
chunkuri, the Persian term.
Before deseribing each of these in detail it will be
as well to give a brief sketch of the history of archi-
tecture, as it exists in this tract of country, as the
mother art to which the decorative arts are in the
main subsidiary.* The practice of uniting soap-
* Dates or Hindoobtanee Architectüee.
Date, a.o.
Foundation of Ist Pathan School under Kootub-ood-Deen
Aibuk, about ------ 1200
[Principal specbnen Tomb ofAUumsh ■ - - 1235]
Second School or period of Toghluk Shah - - * 1320
[P.S. Tomb of T.8. < Eoof in a Hat dome slightly pointed
expressive of tlieir arch, about the same date.]
Third Pathan period, S. Shah [P.S. Killet Kona Mosque] ■ 1540
Commencement of Moghul School (under Akber) - - 1650
P. S. Fort at Agra, from 1566 to about - - - 1630
Turning point of Moghul architecture when Hindoo work
was eliminated by Shah Jahan - - -1640
Earliest Colouring, about - 1540 d Completion of
Inlaying of Itmad-ood-Dowlah - 16201 Jam’a Musjid
Khas Muhul ol Agra - - 1630-71 at Agra, 1639 - 1644
Taj Muhul - - - 1630-164S kto Taj Compt. - 164S
