Re: Freda Bedi Cont'd (#2)
Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2020 5:04 am
Part 1 of 2
Indian Silver during the Raj
by Harish K. Patel with Veronica J. McDavid
SilverFromIndia1850-1920.blogspot.com
Accessed: 2/19/20
A small collection of silver from India, all of it dating from the Raj Period, some of it made by local Indian silversmiths, some by British Colonials. The collection includes the work of Orr and Hamilton, as well as Oomersi Mawji, Dass & Dutt, and others, in the regions of Kutch (Cutch), Madras (Chennai), Lucknow, Calcutta (Kolkata), Kashmir, and Rajasthan.
Calcutta
It was in Calcutta, in 1790, that the British East India Company first began the trading business that would, by 1858, lead to its control over all of India. Hamilton & Co. was the first British silversmith to set up shop in Calcutta. The pieces they produced in Calcutta, mainly for British consumption, were of polished silver with smooth lines and minimal decoration.
Later on, in Bovanipore, a suburb of Calcutta, local silversmiths Grish Chunder Dutt, Dass & Dutt, and Goopee Nath Dutt created elaborately designed, répoussée, and chased scenes of Indian village and farming life, with human figures, animals, and trees.
Silver Garniture Figure of Elephant
Silver Garniture Figure of Elephant, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1810, Sterling Silver; Dimensions: 7 inches H x 6 3/4 inches L (17.8 cm H x 17.2 cm L) Weight: 50.18 oz (1,422.672 grams).
A Rare Anglo-Indian Silver Garniture Figure in the Form of a Caparisoned Elephant, ca. 1810, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, established 1808 under license from the East India Company; the elephant depicted with mahout and a howdah fitted as salt cellar with gilt interior, engraved “PRESENTED TO THE MESS/ of the 7th Madras Light Cavalry/ by/ Lieut. J.C. Cleghorn 7th M.L.C./ on his promotion”; Reference: Jackson, Sir Charles J. English Goldsmiths and Their Marks, p. 473.[/i]
The East Indian Railway Cup with Bengal Tiger Handle
The East Indian Railway Cup with Bengal Tiger Handle, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1867, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 4 ¾ inches, H (12 cm), Weight: 19.49 oz. (552.81 grams).
This beautifully designed and crafted piece, commemorating the completion of the railway line from Allahabad to Jubbulpore, is not only an object of beauty, but is also of great historical significance. Designed in a classical manner, without any adornment on the main part of the cup, it bears a stunningly beautiful replica of a snarling Bengal tiger, in pouncing position, all the more remarkable in its contrast to the simplicity of the cup itself.
Early in the American civil war, England's cotton workers had decided to stand with their factory-worker brothers on the Union side, and honor President Lincoln's request for a boycott of cotton that had been grown and harvested by slave labor. Without the American product, however, India and Egypt were hard-pressed to compete and fill the void, to keep the mills of Manchester running. While the world watched the outcome of the American war, the race was on.
Finally, in June 1867, two years after the end of the civil war—the battle-scarred cotton fields of the American South having been laid fallow—the East Indian Railway, which had established the Howrah-Delhi main line via Allahabad [formerly Jubbulpore] from Itarsi, on 7 March, 1870, linked op with the track from Allahabad, and established a connection between Calcutta and the port of Bombay, and thence to the cotton mills of Birmingham. So it was that the East India Company filled the trade gap created by the American civil war, and this cup commemorates one link in that historical chain of events.
Inscription on front:
In Commemoration of
The successful completion
Of the
JUBBULPORE LINE
And to recall many happy
days and much
good fellowship
R.S. BRUNDELL
and his fellow labourers
have pledged each other
in this cup
JUNE 1st 1867
Inscription on back:
Engineering Staff
H.P. LeMesurier Chief Engineer
[19 Engineers listed]
Contractors Staff
[9 Staff listed]
Inscription at bottom:
Allahabad to Jubbulpore 223/2 Miles
Amount of Contract Rs. 17,000,000
Cost per mile £15,000
Messrs Waring Bros Hunt Contractors
Works commenced 1st March 1863
Finished 1st June 1867
Monumental Silver Pitcher
Monumental Silver Pitcher, Grish Chander Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 13 1/2” h (34.3 cm), Weight: 93 oz. (2,892 grams)
This monumental pitcher from Calcutta has a body chased with stiff leaves below a band of figures dancing and playing musical instruments. The pitcher's handle is of particular note, formed by a figure emerging from the mouth of a fish and holding twisted and entwined serpents. Its upper body is adorned with zodiac symbols.
Calcutta was an extremely cosmopolitan city, and, in addition to Hindu images, important Muslim, Buddhist, and even festivals are sometimes represented and intertwined in its historical iconography and art. The symbols of the zodiac are part of the Calcutta tradition that often crosses cultural borders.
Provenance: Myrna and Bernard Posner, NY
Silver Swan: Object de Vertu
Silver Swan: Object de Vertu, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1810, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 3” h (7.62 cm), Weight: 7.05 oz. (200 grams)
A lovely cast-silver objet de vertu by Hamilton & Co. (mainly of Calcutta, but which also had shops in Bombay, Delhi, and Simla), silversmiths who established 1808 in Calcutta under license from the East India Company and had business till 1971. This extraordinarily cast silver piece depicts a nesting swan, its wings outstretched supporting a shell. The hallmarks are inscribed on the bottom inner lip of the shell: H&Co, with the symbol of an elephant and a thistle. Hamilton & Co. was considered the Garrard’s of India, and the company created many luxury items, such as this piece, in the European taste.
Fan-Shaped Silver Tray
Fan-Shaped Silver Tray, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver, Dimensions: 14 x 20 Inches (35.56 x 50.8 cm), Weight: 34.8 oz. (986.6 gram)
A charming and playfully designed fan-shaped tray, its central decoration an Indian village scene, with an array of palm and fruit trees behind thatched-roof houses, a woman in traditional clothing tending her garden, and several men carrying firewood. The lacy rim is further enhanced with additional depictions of villagers caught up in their daily activities.
For a strikingly similar example, see Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858–1947, London, 1999, p. 59, tab. 82. The shape, the stylistic and decorative techniques, and the composition are almost identical to this example.
Large Silver Presentation Casket with Intact Original Scroll
Large Silver Presentation Casket with Intact Original Scroll, Calcutta, India, ca. 1910, Sterling silver, Dimensions: 7 1/8 inches H x 18 ½ x 9 1/8 inches W (18 cm H x 47x23 cm W), Weight: 60 oz. (1,700 gram)
In 1916, this historic piece was presented, upon his retirement, to one Edward William Stanley, stationmaster in Colaba, Bombay, for over thirty years. Colaba is one of the seven islands that comprises Bombay, its name deriving from Kolabhat, the language of Kolis, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands before the arrival of Portuguese and, later, the British.
The casket has been profusely embossed with human and animal figures against a landscape of foliage and buildings worked in the typically Calcutta style of the Colonial period. Within the casket is the original watercolor-and-calligraphy commemorative scroll, the artwork for which is signed “Mich. Bocarro, Bombay.”
The silver is inscribed but unhallmarked, testing reveals a silver quality of 800+.
Provenance: Pushkin Antiques, London, UK.
Silver Teacup/Saucer
Silver Teacup/Saucer, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Cup: 2 5/8 D x 3 Inches H (6.7 D x 7.5 cm H), Weight: 3.8 oz. (108 grams); Saucer: 6 1/8 inches D (15.3 cm D), Weight: 5.25 oz. (149 grams); Spoon: 5 5/8 inches D (14.3 cm L), Weight:1.5 oz. (42 grams). Total Weight: 13.83 oz. (299 grams)
A Calcutta-style silver teacup, saucer, and teaspoon intricately decorated in regional designs: figures that are farming, collecting water from a stream, drawing water from a well. The cup has one atypical Calcutta design, a sailboat, and also depicts different animals, such as lions and buffaloes, set against palm trees, foliage, and structures. The matching teaspoon is engraved “BIH.” None of the pieces is hallmarked.
See similar silver teacup, saucer by Oomersi Mawji, in Kutch section of this blog. Neither set has any insulator in the cup handle, thus making the cup impossible to hold when filled with a hot beverage.
Large Bowl with Village Scene
Large Bowl with Village Scene, Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 9 1/2 in. w (24.1 cm) , 5 1/4 in. h. (13.3 cm), Weight: 26.56 oz. (753 grams)
This large fruit bowl in the Calcutta style depicts a number of village scenes: a farmer harvesting the crops in his field, some huts, a garden wall, some trees, water being drawn from a well, an oxcart, and a figure washing clothes. In the distant background, some hills hint at distance and perspective, and a band of ornamentation circles the rim and base above and below the landscape. As is typical for most Indian silver not made in Anglo-Indian ateliers, it bears no regulation hallmark, but has a stippled inscription or signature (not recognizable), set in a sunburst design.
"Swami" Style Tea Service
"Swami" Style Tea Service. Cooke & Kelvey, Calcutta, ca.1880. Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Teapot: Height: 7 1/4 inches H x 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches W (18.41 cm H x 21 x 10.8 cm W), Weight: 32.04 oz. (908.32 gram); Sugar Bowl: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 inches W (13.65 cm H x 10.16 W), Weight: 19.11 oz. (541.75 gram); Creamer: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches W (13.65 cm H x 11.44 x 11.75 cm W), Weight: 14.35 oz. (406.8 gram)
A stunning 19th-century Indian silver tea service, comprised of teapot, sugar bowl, and cream jug. The pieces are decorated with swami-style stylized Indian deities set in oval cartouches, with Madras-style leaf and bead borders. (Although the service was made in Calcutta, by Cooke & Kelvey, it is the firm of Peter Orr and the region of Madras that are more usually associated with swami style than Calcutta.)
Each piece has four cast lion’s-paw feet, but the stylistic pièce de résistance is the spout: an elephant head—with well-formed tusks and upraised trunk.
Each piece bears on its underside the Cooke & Kelvey hallmark (Robert Thomas Cooke and Charles Kelvey, 1859-present).
Provenance: Pushkin Antiques, London, UK.
Dragon Tea Pot
Dragon Tea Pot, Goopee Nath Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca.1890, Sterling Silver 835, 10 3/4 in. handle to spout (23.5 cm), 6 1/2 in. tall (20.32 cm), Weight: 28.04 oz. (795 grams)
This is a very unusual and piece, signed by Goopee Nath Dutt, from Bhowanipore, Calcutta. The quality of Dutt’s craftsmanship was well established, but what is unusual about this piece is its dragon handle, not usually seen in pieces of Indian design. The dragon is very finely done, with scales delineated over the full length of its body, and its claws drawn into itself. It is possible that the pot was made for the China export trade, since the dragon was a popular Chinese theme, and the style of the finial is also of a type more Burmese or Chinese than Indian. The piece depicts scenes of rural village life: two different pairs of bullocks, pulling ploughs; one dhoti-clad figure, walking, sheltering himself with a parasol; another carrying a basket; and several village huts amid palm trees and umbrella trees.
Like others of the different Dutts’ pieces from Calcutta, this silver is heavy and is marked “830,” which is the usual purity of Calcutta silver. The teapot is doubly hallmarked, one mark the same as Dutt’s other domestic Indian pieces, the other a mark used only for pieces made for export.
Village Scene Coffee Pot
Village Scene Coffee Pot, Calcutta, India, ca.1890, Sterling Silver, 9 1/4 in. handle to spout (23.5 cm), 8 in. h (20.32 cm), Weight: 22 oz. (623.69 grams)
The coffee pot is in classic, fluted-corner urn design, with gently scalloped rims to its inverted shoulder, and it is adorned with beautiful chased scenes of Indian village and farming life that are characteristic of Calcutta silver (Wilkinson, pp. 58-63). A bare-chested farmer leads a pair of oxen, while a second farmer is seen in the distance, amid tall cypress and palm trees, tending neatly tilled rows of crops. Villagers are shown preparing food and taking wares to market, and there is a series of thatched-roof dwellings and a shrub-lined walkway.
The coffeepot retains the original, ebonized, mushroom-form finial atop a turned pedestal base. Set above, to one side, is a single elephant, and, to the other, is a lone farmer amid trees and rolling hills. There is a conforming leaf cap and in-cut center, and an ebonized handle. Its only “hallmark,” as shown, is the words “Sterling Silver.” It is unusual for 19th-century Indian silver to be so marked.
Sweetmeats Bowl
Sweetmeats Bowl, Grish Chunder Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 4 in. w (10.2 cm), 1 7/8 in. h. (4.8 cm), Weight: 2.69 oz. (76.4 grams)
In his time, Grish Chunder Dutt was the finest silversmith in Calcutta. This charming sweetmeats bowl, in the Calcutta style, depicts a village scene of a farmer harvesting the crops in his field. In the background can be seen his hut, some palm trees, and other foliage. A ruffled rim ornaments the piece, which—atypically for most Indian silver not made in Anglo Indian ateliers—bears a signature set in a fan-shaped design.
Condiment Bowl
Condiment Bowl, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling silver, Dimension: 4.25 in. (10.5 cm) wide, 2 in. (4.7cm) high, Weight: 3.88 oz. (110 grams)
A bowl with much of the coriander-leaf pattern for which Kutch was known, but with a departure from Kutch style in the Calcutta-style foliage and ogee-shaped, medallion-framed scenes of havelis and shrines.
Indian Silver during the Raj
by Harish K. Patel with Veronica J. McDavid
SilverFromIndia1850-1920.blogspot.com
Accessed: 2/19/20
A small collection of silver from India, all of it dating from the Raj Period, some of it made by local Indian silversmiths, some by British Colonials. The collection includes the work of Orr and Hamilton, as well as Oomersi Mawji, Dass & Dutt, and others, in the regions of Kutch (Cutch), Madras (Chennai), Lucknow, Calcutta (Kolkata), Kashmir, and Rajasthan.
Calcutta
It was in Calcutta, in 1790, that the British East India Company first began the trading business that would, by 1858, lead to its control over all of India. Hamilton & Co. was the first British silversmith to set up shop in Calcutta. The pieces they produced in Calcutta, mainly for British consumption, were of polished silver with smooth lines and minimal decoration.
Later on, in Bovanipore, a suburb of Calcutta, local silversmiths Grish Chunder Dutt, Dass & Dutt, and Goopee Nath Dutt created elaborately designed, répoussée, and chased scenes of Indian village and farming life, with human figures, animals, and trees.
Silver Garniture Figure of Elephant
Silver Garniture Figure of Elephant, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1810, Sterling Silver; Dimensions: 7 inches H x 6 3/4 inches L (17.8 cm H x 17.2 cm L) Weight: 50.18 oz (1,422.672 grams).
A Rare Anglo-Indian Silver Garniture Figure in the Form of a Caparisoned Elephant, ca. 1810, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, established 1808 under license from the East India Company; the elephant depicted with mahout and a howdah fitted as salt cellar with gilt interior, engraved “PRESENTED TO THE MESS/ of the 7th Madras Light Cavalry/ by/ Lieut. J.C. Cleghorn 7th M.L.C./ on his promotion”; Reference: Jackson, Sir Charles J. English Goldsmiths and Their Marks, p. 473.[/i]
The East Indian Railway Cup with Bengal Tiger Handle
The East Indian Railway Cup with Bengal Tiger Handle, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1867, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 4 ¾ inches, H (12 cm), Weight: 19.49 oz. (552.81 grams).
This beautifully designed and crafted piece, commemorating the completion of the railway line from Allahabad to Jubbulpore, is not only an object of beauty, but is also of great historical significance. Designed in a classical manner, without any adornment on the main part of the cup, it bears a stunningly beautiful replica of a snarling Bengal tiger, in pouncing position, all the more remarkable in its contrast to the simplicity of the cup itself.
Early in the American civil war, England's cotton workers had decided to stand with their factory-worker brothers on the Union side, and honor President Lincoln's request for a boycott of cotton that had been grown and harvested by slave labor. Without the American product, however, India and Egypt were hard-pressed to compete and fill the void, to keep the mills of Manchester running. While the world watched the outcome of the American war, the race was on.
Finally, in June 1867, two years after the end of the civil war—the battle-scarred cotton fields of the American South having been laid fallow—the East Indian Railway, which had established the Howrah-Delhi main line via Allahabad [formerly Jubbulpore] from Itarsi, on 7 March, 1870, linked op with the track from Allahabad, and established a connection between Calcutta and the port of Bombay, and thence to the cotton mills of Birmingham. So it was that the East India Company filled the trade gap created by the American civil war, and this cup commemorates one link in that historical chain of events.
Inscription on front:
In Commemoration of
The successful completion
Of the
JUBBULPORE LINE
And to recall many happy
days and much
good fellowship
R.S. BRUNDELL
and his fellow labourers
have pledged each other
in this cup
JUNE 1st 1867
Inscription on back:
Engineering Staff
H.P. LeMesurier Chief Engineer
[19 Engineers listed]
Contractors Staff
[9 Staff listed]
Inscription at bottom:
Allahabad to Jubbulpore 223/2 Miles
Amount of Contract Rs. 17,000,000
Cost per mile £15,000
Messrs Waring Bros Hunt Contractors
Works commenced 1st March 1863
Finished 1st June 1867
Monumental Silver Pitcher
Monumental Silver Pitcher, Grish Chander Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 13 1/2” h (34.3 cm), Weight: 93 oz. (2,892 grams)
This monumental pitcher from Calcutta has a body chased with stiff leaves below a band of figures dancing and playing musical instruments. The pitcher's handle is of particular note, formed by a figure emerging from the mouth of a fish and holding twisted and entwined serpents. Its upper body is adorned with zodiac symbols.
Calcutta was an extremely cosmopolitan city, and, in addition to Hindu images, important Muslim, Buddhist, and even festivals are sometimes represented and intertwined in its historical iconography and art. The symbols of the zodiac are part of the Calcutta tradition that often crosses cultural borders.
Provenance: Myrna and Bernard Posner, NY
Silver Swan: Object de Vertu
Silver Swan: Object de Vertu, Hamilton & Co., Calcutta, India, ca. 1810, Sterling Silver. Dimensions: 3” h (7.62 cm), Weight: 7.05 oz. (200 grams)
A lovely cast-silver objet de vertu by Hamilton & Co. (mainly of Calcutta, but which also had shops in Bombay, Delhi, and Simla), silversmiths who established 1808 in Calcutta under license from the East India Company and had business till 1971. This extraordinarily cast silver piece depicts a nesting swan, its wings outstretched supporting a shell. The hallmarks are inscribed on the bottom inner lip of the shell: H&Co, with the symbol of an elephant and a thistle. Hamilton & Co. was considered the Garrard’s of India, and the company created many luxury items, such as this piece, in the European taste.
Fan-Shaped Silver Tray
Fan-Shaped Silver Tray, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver, Dimensions: 14 x 20 Inches (35.56 x 50.8 cm), Weight: 34.8 oz. (986.6 gram)
A charming and playfully designed fan-shaped tray, its central decoration an Indian village scene, with an array of palm and fruit trees behind thatched-roof houses, a woman in traditional clothing tending her garden, and several men carrying firewood. The lacy rim is further enhanced with additional depictions of villagers caught up in their daily activities.
For a strikingly similar example, see Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858–1947, London, 1999, p. 59, tab. 82. The shape, the stylistic and decorative techniques, and the composition are almost identical to this example.
Large Silver Presentation Casket with Intact Original Scroll
Large Silver Presentation Casket with Intact Original Scroll, Calcutta, India, ca. 1910, Sterling silver, Dimensions: 7 1/8 inches H x 18 ½ x 9 1/8 inches W (18 cm H x 47x23 cm W), Weight: 60 oz. (1,700 gram)
In 1916, this historic piece was presented, upon his retirement, to one Edward William Stanley, stationmaster in Colaba, Bombay, for over thirty years. Colaba is one of the seven islands that comprises Bombay, its name deriving from Kolabhat, the language of Kolis, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands before the arrival of Portuguese and, later, the British.
The casket has been profusely embossed with human and animal figures against a landscape of foliage and buildings worked in the typically Calcutta style of the Colonial period. Within the casket is the original watercolor-and-calligraphy commemorative scroll, the artwork for which is signed “Mich. Bocarro, Bombay.”
The silver is inscribed but unhallmarked, testing reveals a silver quality of 800+.
Provenance: Pushkin Antiques, London, UK.
Silver Teacup/Saucer
Silver Teacup/Saucer, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Cup: 2 5/8 D x 3 Inches H (6.7 D x 7.5 cm H), Weight: 3.8 oz. (108 grams); Saucer: 6 1/8 inches D (15.3 cm D), Weight: 5.25 oz. (149 grams); Spoon: 5 5/8 inches D (14.3 cm L), Weight:1.5 oz. (42 grams). Total Weight: 13.83 oz. (299 grams)
A Calcutta-style silver teacup, saucer, and teaspoon intricately decorated in regional designs: figures that are farming, collecting water from a stream, drawing water from a well. The cup has one atypical Calcutta design, a sailboat, and also depicts different animals, such as lions and buffaloes, set against palm trees, foliage, and structures. The matching teaspoon is engraved “BIH.” None of the pieces is hallmarked.
See similar silver teacup, saucer by Oomersi Mawji, in Kutch section of this blog. Neither set has any insulator in the cup handle, thus making the cup impossible to hold when filled with a hot beverage.
Large Bowl with Village Scene
Large Bowl with Village Scene, Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 9 1/2 in. w (24.1 cm) , 5 1/4 in. h. (13.3 cm), Weight: 26.56 oz. (753 grams)
This large fruit bowl in the Calcutta style depicts a number of village scenes: a farmer harvesting the crops in his field, some huts, a garden wall, some trees, water being drawn from a well, an oxcart, and a figure washing clothes. In the distant background, some hills hint at distance and perspective, and a band of ornamentation circles the rim and base above and below the landscape. As is typical for most Indian silver not made in Anglo-Indian ateliers, it bears no regulation hallmark, but has a stippled inscription or signature (not recognizable), set in a sunburst design.
"Swami" Style Tea Service
"Swami" Style Tea Service. Cooke & Kelvey, Calcutta, ca.1880. Sterling Silver, Dimensions: Teapot: Height: 7 1/4 inches H x 8 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches W (18.41 cm H x 21 x 10.8 cm W), Weight: 32.04 oz. (908.32 gram); Sugar Bowl: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 inches W (13.65 cm H x 10.16 W), Weight: 19.11 oz. (541.75 gram); Creamer: Height: 5 3/8 inches H x 4 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches W (13.65 cm H x 11.44 x 11.75 cm W), Weight: 14.35 oz. (406.8 gram)
A stunning 19th-century Indian silver tea service, comprised of teapot, sugar bowl, and cream jug. The pieces are decorated with swami-style stylized Indian deities set in oval cartouches, with Madras-style leaf and bead borders. (Although the service was made in Calcutta, by Cooke & Kelvey, it is the firm of Peter Orr and the region of Madras that are more usually associated with swami style than Calcutta.)
Each piece has four cast lion’s-paw feet, but the stylistic pièce de résistance is the spout: an elephant head—with well-formed tusks and upraised trunk.
Each piece bears on its underside the Cooke & Kelvey hallmark (Robert Thomas Cooke and Charles Kelvey, 1859-present).
Provenance: Pushkin Antiques, London, UK.
Dragon Tea Pot
Dragon Tea Pot, Goopee Nath Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca.1890, Sterling Silver 835, 10 3/4 in. handle to spout (23.5 cm), 6 1/2 in. tall (20.32 cm), Weight: 28.04 oz. (795 grams)
This is a very unusual and piece, signed by Goopee Nath Dutt, from Bhowanipore, Calcutta. The quality of Dutt’s craftsmanship was well established, but what is unusual about this piece is its dragon handle, not usually seen in pieces of Indian design. The dragon is very finely done, with scales delineated over the full length of its body, and its claws drawn into itself. It is possible that the pot was made for the China export trade, since the dragon was a popular Chinese theme, and the style of the finial is also of a type more Burmese or Chinese than Indian. The piece depicts scenes of rural village life: two different pairs of bullocks, pulling ploughs; one dhoti-clad figure, walking, sheltering himself with a parasol; another carrying a basket; and several village huts amid palm trees and umbrella trees.
Like others of the different Dutts’ pieces from Calcutta, this silver is heavy and is marked “830,” which is the usual purity of Calcutta silver. The teapot is doubly hallmarked, one mark the same as Dutt’s other domestic Indian pieces, the other a mark used only for pieces made for export.
Village Scene Coffee Pot
Village Scene Coffee Pot, Calcutta, India, ca.1890, Sterling Silver, 9 1/4 in. handle to spout (23.5 cm), 8 in. h (20.32 cm), Weight: 22 oz. (623.69 grams)
The coffee pot is in classic, fluted-corner urn design, with gently scalloped rims to its inverted shoulder, and it is adorned with beautiful chased scenes of Indian village and farming life that are characteristic of Calcutta silver (Wilkinson, pp. 58-63). A bare-chested farmer leads a pair of oxen, while a second farmer is seen in the distance, amid tall cypress and palm trees, tending neatly tilled rows of crops. Villagers are shown preparing food and taking wares to market, and there is a series of thatched-roof dwellings and a shrub-lined walkway.
The coffeepot retains the original, ebonized, mushroom-form finial atop a turned pedestal base. Set above, to one side, is a single elephant, and, to the other, is a lone farmer amid trees and rolling hills. There is a conforming leaf cap and in-cut center, and an ebonized handle. Its only “hallmark,” as shown, is the words “Sterling Silver.” It is unusual for 19th-century Indian silver to be so marked.
Sweetmeats Bowl
Sweetmeats Bowl, Grish Chunder Dutt, Calcutta, India, ca. 1900, Sterling silver, 4 in. w (10.2 cm), 1 7/8 in. h. (4.8 cm), Weight: 2.69 oz. (76.4 grams)
In his time, Grish Chunder Dutt was the finest silversmith in Calcutta. This charming sweetmeats bowl, in the Calcutta style, depicts a village scene of a farmer harvesting the crops in his field. In the background can be seen his hut, some palm trees, and other foliage. A ruffled rim ornaments the piece, which—atypically for most Indian silver not made in Anglo Indian ateliers—bears a signature set in a fan-shaped design.
Condiment Bowl
Condiment Bowl, Calcutta, India, ca. 1890, Sterling silver, Dimension: 4.25 in. (10.5 cm) wide, 2 in. (4.7cm) high, Weight: 3.88 oz. (110 grams)
A bowl with much of the coriander-leaf pattern for which Kutch was known, but with a departure from Kutch style in the Calcutta-style foliage and ogee-shaped, medallion-framed scenes of havelis and shrines.