Metalwork has always been to India what ceramics are to China. During the fabled Mughal age, the craftsmen of the Sultans and Rajahs of India produced an astonishing variety of objects in gold and gold enamel, silver, brass, bronze, gilt copper and the Deccani alloy known as bidri. The finest of these are among the most striking and poetic utilitarian wares ever made, in addition to being of the most outstanding technical refinement.
The even which determined the character of these artifacts was the Islamic invasion of India. Thenceforward, India would look west to the Middle East, and especially to Iran, for standards in its literary culture and visual arts. Yet, while India interpreted, she seldom imitated: and sometimes her interpretations surpassed her models.
Order, beauty richness, restraint and sensuousness describe the essence of these works of art, whose greatness derives from the meeting of two worlds. Such mingling of Hindu and Muslin sensibilities gave Mughal art the strength to endure, just as religious tolerance gave political strength to the Mughal emperors. The twin stars of Islamic art, calligraphy and the intricate arabesque, transplanted to the banks of the Ganges, shone with new vigor. Styles were however modified by the practices of local craftsmen, and in time the kings themselves developed a taste for Indian innovations.
this, the first book on the metalwork of Mughal India, illustrates al the great surviving objects, the majority of which have never been published before and are unknown to the western connoisseur.
Price: $29.75
|
