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Hookah base India, Bidar, Mughal period 17th century Zinc alloy inlaid with gold 6½ × 7¼ in. diam. ( 16.5 × 18.4 cm) Gift of David T. Owsley via the Alconda-Owsley Foundation 2000.406
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Inlaying shiny metal pieces into black zinc vessels to form decorative patterns is an artistic technique that is unique to India. In fact, the knowledge and use of zinc as an independent metal flourished in India long before the process of its distillation was known in the West. Bidri ware, as these inlaid zinc vessels are called, derives its name from a town, Bidar, in the Deccan where this type of vessel is believed to have been invented, probably sometime in the seventeenth century. However, production was not limited to Bidar as is commonly believed, but occurred in a number of major cities throughout the Deccan and north India. This hookah base is embellished with a bold design of gold inlaid flowers. The process of creating Bidri ware occurs in several steps. First, pieces of precious metal are
TH E A RTS O F THE MU G HA L PERIO D
inlaid into the zinc surface. Once the inlay is complete, the entire piece is blackened by applying a chemical paste that affects the zinc but not the inlay. The result, after the paste is removed, is brightly shining inlay that stands in contrast to the deep black of the zinc. Finally the entire piece is rubbed with oil to enhance the blackness of the zinc. Here gold has been used, making this piece very valuable, but more often silver is used for inlay. In some rare instances combinations of gold and silver tones are employed. This hookah base represents one of the most common forms of Bidri ware. Used to smoke tobacco through a process of indirect heat and water filtration, the hookah was an acceptable part of everyday practice for elite men and women. Tobacco was introduced to India probably sometime in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, and came to north India in the very early seventeenth century. The custom of smoking a hookah caught on very quickly, and it was a common and fashionable subject in portraiture. A painting in the DMA collection (cat. 58) shows an elegant seated woman smoking a hookah. Attached to the base some distance away is a long pipe through which the smoke would pass, attached to a pipelike mouthpiece. Her servant seated off to the side would have been skilled in refilling the hookah with water and tobacco, a cumbersome procedure. C.A.