A House of Wonder:’ Silver at the Delhi Durbar Exhibition of 1903

15 • Curved Card Case 7 Calcutta, ca. 1900 Silver H: 4.3 cm x 8 cm x 1 cm Inscription: SMS monogrammed on the shield on the convex side

This curved card case with a textured background has a plain border on all four sides, and its longer side carries a removable lid over which the repoussé decoration continues uninterrupted. The convex side of the case carries a central monogrammed shield with the owner’s initials, SMS. The left foreground depicts the squatting figure of a woman with two baskets, one covered and one open, while to the right there is a man with a basket; both are attending to their various tasks; they are placed against a village backdrop represented by four thatched roof huts amidst trees. The concave side features a woman carrying a large pot of water along a pathway near a village indicated by two huts situated in a landscape filled with plants and trees.

16 • Calling Card Case with Arabesque Pattern Calcutta, ca. 1900 Silver H: 9.6 cm x 6.6 cm x 0.9 cm Inscription: ‘From a Friend’

A dense arabesque pattern with spiral flourishes is incised in very low relief against this rectangular card case to create a smoothly finished decorative surface. Both faces of the case are similarly treated, except that one side carries a central shield with the inscription ‘From a Friend.’ On the upper half of the other side, almost obscured by the plume-like decoration, is a diminutive nymph.

17 • Filigree Card Case with Gold Overlay Cuttack, Orissa, ca. 1820 Silver H: 6.5 cm x 10.2 cm x 2.4 cm

This exquisitely detailed filigree card case carries an oval medallion at its center featuring an open flower, a diamond filigree shape whose sides curve inwards, and a final filigree border. Elaborate spiraling filigree in three bands – the central one smaller and more tightly coiled – fill the triangular corners of the case between its edge and the curved band of the diamond; similar spirals occupy the smaller spaces between the inner edges of the diamond and the oval medallion. The central petaled flower and its layers of swirling filigree, with a braided border, were created separately of gold and placed upon the already existing silver filigree with the help of four metal tabs. The sides of the case feature multiple borders of which the central one is braided. The reverse of the case carries a design very similar to the front except that it lacks the central gold filigree attachment. This calling card case is a superb example of filigree work for which Orissa, and especially the town of Cuttack, continues to be noted.

1 Margaret MacMillan, Women of the Raj (London: Thames and Hudson,

1988), p. 155. 2 MacMillan, Women of the Raj. 3 Wynyard R.T. Wilkinson, Indian Silver, Figure 245, features a page from a P. Orr catalog with the card case with the Vishnu face only and numbered 410. P. Orr & Sons, Swami Catalogue, features the bull-headed deity face on its own as no. 410. 4 Wilkinson, Indian Silver, Fig. 247, center row, right, p. 155. 5 Wilkinson, Indian Silver, Plate 218, p. 131 . 6 Wilkinson, Indian Silver, Plate 165, left, p. 99. 7 Wilkinson, Indian Silver, Fig. 83, p. 59.

Tea and the Tea Service

Afternoon tea, partaken in gracious surroundings, has become a ritual synonymous with British upper-class culture and etiquette. Guests expect to be offered a cup of fragrant liquid poured from an elegant teapot, with milk and sugar added from its matching milk jug and sugar bowl. Mini tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and cakes are passed around on platters. Today, British afternoon tea is served at exclusive hotel restaurants around the world. It might come as a surprise then to discover that tea, which came to Britain in the 1650s, was originally an exclusively green tea to which milk was not added. Tea first became a fashionable court drink through the example of Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese princess who married Charles II of England in 1661 , and who brought green tea from China as part of her dowry. Catherine of Braganza’s dowry also included the islands that comprise Bombay!

In 1834, just at the time when black tea from China began to overtake green tea in popularity in Britain, the East India Company’s monopoly of trade between China and Britain came to an end. The British began an anxious search for an alternate source for this leaf that had become so popular in England. India was the obvious location and, to Britain’s good fortune, their quest paid off with the discovery of tea, a variety of the camellia plant, growing wild in the hills of Assam. Considerable uncertainty remains as to whether China or India is the home of tea, and one scholar remarks that only further research will yield the answer. 1

The British began to systematically cultivate tea plantations in Assam; they also planted Chinese black tea in other parts of India. By 1900, India was producing nearly 200 million pounds of tea, of which 85 per cent was exported to Britain. Tea cultivation in Ceylon, which commenced in the 1870s, was very successful; Assam tea was planted in the highlands, and Chinese in the lowlands, with much hybridization between the two. 2

Left: Detail of No. 18, Three-piece Tea Service Tea was hailed for a number of reasons, few having to do with the silver tea service that is at the heart of this enquiry. For British army troops, in areas where the water could not be drunk without danger to health, tea leaves thrown into boiling water provided the ultimate answer. It was cheaper than the two other popular alternatives of beer and wine, and superior in being non-alcoholic. It proved itself beneficial to health as it aroused a degree of alertness and, with the addition of energy-giving sugar and nutritional milk, provided a healthy invigorating drink. Soon it was being hailed for its medicinal side effects too. 3

Afternoon tea provided the British, especially in India but also in Britain, with the ideal break between lunch and dinner, offering a light refreshment that encouraged relaxation and conversation. British books on etiquette began to include chapters on serving tea, rendering it almost a ritual, though not as complicated as the tea imbibing ceremonial of Korea or Japan. A silver tea service, consisting of a silver tray holding a teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl was considered the height of good taste. Often, the set included a tall pot for hot water which was poured into the teapot to steep the tea leaves after the first serving, it being quite customary and proper to accept a second cup of tea.

Tea sets were made in every part of India and decorated in every local tradition of silverware. Madras created stunning silver tea sets decorated with festival processions of the gods in the style known as Swami (gods) silver. Spouts took the form of the mythical lion-like yali, handles were serpents upon which the baby god Krishna crawls upwards, and knobs were shaped as a seated deity. It was two such Swami tea services that were gifted to the Prince of Wales on his 1875–1876 trip to India, one with an additional 12 cups, saucers, and teaspoons, and intended ‘For “Afternoon” Garden Parties.’ 4 Kashmir produced tea services decorated with the popular paisley pattern or with a large chinar leaf adorning each side. Frequently, they created tea sets in imitation of the kangri, the individual coal

burners that Kashmiris carried beneath their long cloaks in the winter months, or in the form of the kang, a water vessel placed at an angle on a round base, resulting in an asymmetrical tea service. Kutch produced heavily embossed wares in floral patterns that meander across the surface, often with a serpent handle; one fanciful tea service was created in the shape of a thickly feathered bird. Calcutta tea services were adorned with rural scenes, and Lucknow teapots carried the ‘jungle pattern’ with animals beneath tall palms. Each was typical of its region. The exception is a richly patterned tea service created by a Scottish firm, which features a range of curiously hybrid figures within decorated cartouches, and reflects British admiration for ‘Indian’ design. The slim bands of ivory attached to the handles of teapots, milk jugs, and hot water pots in many parts of India are intended as insulation from the heat of the contents. For those of us who tend to think of Indians as confirmed tea drinkers, and of India as a major exporter of tea worldwide, it may come as a surprise to know that Indians themselves took to drinking tea only towards the end of the 19th century, after the British started cultivating tea plantations

This elegant three-piece tea service displays striking repoussé decoration that portrays gods being carried in temple processions, attended by male and female devotees who join in the accompanying celebration. The theme is typical of the Swami silver work of Madras, especially that executed by the firm of P. Orr & Sons. All three pieces have cast cobra handles in an elongated C-shape that are covered with a textured scale pattern, while a cast image of crawling baby Krishna is placed within the handle’s curve. All three pieces feature a beaded band along both base and rim, while the teapot and milk jug have variations on a curved spout with an open-mouthed lion-like yali tip. The tall and gently widening body of the teapot features a magnificent pyramidal ratha (temple chariot) surmounted by a parasol and adorned with hanging bells and rearing yalis holding a garland in their front paws. It enshrines an image of standing Vishnu flanked by his two consorts, Bhudevi and Shri Lakshmi. Heavenly flying apsaras (celestial nymphs) shower blossoms on the ratha from both in India. Once introduced, the British custom took such strong hold that it could be seen in full play as late as the 1970s. At the end of the first day of a Kashmiri trek from Pahalgam up to a glacier, on which we were accompanied by three bearers and a half dozen ponies loaded with equipment, we were encouraged to go and relax beside a rushing stream. Upon returning to the campsite, we encountered two camp chairs and a small table spread with a white tablecloth upon which sat a silver tea service, complete with a silver tea strainer to catch the tea

18 • Three-piece Tea Service (teapot, milk jug, sugar bowl) Madras, ca. 1890 Swami silver H: 22 cm; 10 cm; 10 cm (See also page 82)

leaves as the amber fluid was poured out! sides, while birds flutter in the sky. The artist has added intriguing practical details that obviously interested him. A male kneels on either side of the ratha’s large, well-detailed wheels, removing wedges to facilitate its movement. A standing figure to the left uses a pole to move it along, and he is assisted by a second male, seemingly on stilts, who uses his position of vantage to weigh down on the stick held by his companion. To the right, four devotees face the ratha as they strain to pull backwards at the rope attached to the chariot to move it along in procession. The artist ignored the interruption of the teapot’s handle and placed two pulling figures on either side of it. Beyond the ratha is a temple whose well-delineated stone walls enclose an open courtyard which houses an impressive vimana (shrine tower), a flag-staff and trees. A tall entranceway surmounted by bulls facing in opposite directions is approached by a sari-clad devotee with a lamp in her hand. Flanked by flowering trees and moving away from the temple is a caparisoned elephant that seemingly indicates the start of the celebratory procession; its rider holds a pot of holy water on the elephant’s head. The addition of

flowering trees on the teapot, not seen on the earliest pieces, suggests a slightly later date of 1890 for the set. A cast image of Krishna dancing upon the subdued serpent demon Kaliya beneath the canopy of a tree serves as the knob of the teapot’s lid, to which it is attached with a screw. The lid features a set of genre scenes in relief that encircle the knob; these include a potter throwing vessels on a wheel, a carpenter sawing planks, a barber with a customer, and other tasks like fetching water, pouring ghee into a fire, and hammering at an anvil.

The narrow slender milk jug features a portable image of standing Vishnu, holding his conch shell and discus, carried on a palanquin borne on the shoulders by four male devotees. The arched shrine within which he stands is flanked by parasols and topped with a lion-headed kirtimukha or ‘face of glory’ motif. Chowri-bearers flank the palanquin, and before it a girl dances to honor the deity. Preceding the palanquin is a group of musicians playing a variety of instruments including the flute and drum, while following it are a caparisoned elephant whose rider holds a flag, as well as a bull with a rider.

The rounded sugar pot is decorated with a large triple-domed shrine, resting on the ground, that features standing Vishnu and his two consorts. It is flanked by parasol-bearers, musicians, singers, and a dancer whose braid sways out behind her with the movement of dance. Completing the celebration is a flag-bearer seated on a caparisoned elephant. This finely executed tea service, in heavy gauge silver, represents Swami silver at its best.

19 • Tea Service (teapot, milk jug, sugar bowl) Lucknow, ca. 1900 Silver H: 14.3 cm; 10.4 cm; 9 cm

The ‘jungle’ pattern typical of the Lucknow silversmiths’ tradition, that features date palm groves with wild animals on grassy mounds beneath the trees, adorns this tea service. The body of the teapot is divided into ten vertical segments, separated by vertical bands of plain silver that create a fluted look. Each vertical section depicts a palm grove and on the ground below, which is depicted as semicircular mounds, is an animal such as an elephant, dog, fox, antelope, rabbit and, in one instance, a bird. The strong graphic quality of the treatment of the trees adds to the elegance of the design. The spout of the teapot continues this theme and portrays a hare in a palm grove. The lid of the teapot too carries a depiction of animals in the forest, and its knob, welded to the hinged lid, is a standing caparisoned elephant. The borders at the top and bottom of the teapot depict fish, the Lucknow royal emblem, in a head-to-tail formation that creates the effect of a scroll. The teapot, together with the milk jug and sugar bowl, has snake handles with a rearing cobra

head and a spiral tail, and all three rise from a plain circular spreading foot.

The milk jug carries a closely similar composition with eight arched sections, each with a vignette of an animal under a date palm. The fish border is absent, being replaced instead with a lower border of triangular motifs. Surprisingly, the sugar pot with eleven fluted sections and two serpent handles, one on each side, lacks the

palm tree setting of the other two items of the tea service. Instead, its vignettes consist of an animal, a seated sage, a snake, an elephant, and a deer with a hut in the background, while one scene depicts two birds. Like the milk jug, it also lacks the fish border which is replaced by a foliate motif. This tea service is an elegant example of the Lucknow jungle design.

20 • Tea Service (teapot, milk jug, sugar bowl) Oomersee Mawjee, Kutch, ca. 1884 Silver H: 22.5 cm; 16.7 cm; 13.1 cm Maker’s marks: O.M. stamped within inset rectangle Inscription: On inner surface of teapot handle: ‘Presented to Colonel H. J. Buchanan C. R. Ninth Foot on his marriage 26th February 1884 by his old brother officers.’

This tea service comes from the workshop of the renowned Kutch master silversmith, Oomersee Mawjee, and is adorned with the richly incised floral patterns on a textured background that are typical of the silverware of Kutch. Oomersee Mawjee’s workshops created a number of shapes for their teapots, from the fully rounded and spherical ones, to those that resemble tankards, to taller slender forms such as these seen in this example (though the milk jug and sugar bowl revert to a spherical form). The portfolio of workshop drawings in the collection of John Sequeira confirm the exceedingly wide range of shapes in which tea services were produced, including those modeled on the Indian lota or water ‘mug’ (see Figs. 1 & 2 on p. 39).

All three pieces of this set are covered with the fine and deeply-wrought floral patterns typical of Kutch work. They have ear-shaped handles with a leaf to serve as a thumb rest, while an acorn upon a leafy twig serves as a knob atop the hinged lids of the teapot and milk jug. All items of the tea service rest on four scrolled feet with a shell casing at the joint of the foot to the body. Narrow ivory bands on the handles of the teapot and the milk jug serve as insulation from the heat.

This catalog is published in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj’ held from 18 September –13 December 2008 at the Miriam & Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York.

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