COPPER 



AND BRASS 



INDIAN COPPER AND BRASS 



Copper and 



Brass 



Wares. 



Brass. 



Bell-metal. 



Restrictions. 



Casting. 



Domestic 

 Vessels. 



Lota, 



Tonti. 



Artistic and 

 Ceremonial. 



Literature. 



concluding paragraph will be found full particulars of the foreign trade, 

 and these give the most accurate conception possible of the Indian copper- 

 smith's craft. 



Copper and Brass Wares. The tambd (Copper), pital (Brass), jasta 

 (Zinc), rangd (Tin and Pewter), and sisa (Lead). 



Each province has two or more centres noted for copper and brass works, 

 hence the diversity of art designs in the ornamentation of these metals. Brass 

 is an alloy of copper and zinc usually in the proportion of 2 to 1 or 4 to 3, but 

 it is rarely made in India, being generally imported as sheet-brass. A cheaper 

 but inferior alloy of copper, zinc and tin is called bharat, kaskut, or kansd. But 

 phul or kansi is the most constant of Indian alloys and corresponds to the bell- 

 metal or white brass of Europe. It is a bright metal, takes a high polish, and 

 is composed of copper and tin in the proportion of 7 to 2. Hoey mentions 

 the kasbharas are the vendors (not themselves the manufacturers) of ornaments 

 made from an amalgam of copper and zinc. The actual manufacturers are 

 dhaliyas or bhariyas, the former casting in stone moulds, the latter in clay. 



In the Hindu order of purity gold is followed by copper, silver, brass and 

 iron. Brass is detestable (makruh) to the Muhammadans, who prefer earthenware, 

 but copper may be tinned and approved in that form. The Hindu ceremonial 

 law prohibits phul or bell-metal as containing pewter (rangd). This is unfortunate, 

 since phul is by far the most sanitary metal in India, and in it acid materials 

 may be cooked and milk and curds kept, whereas such is not the case with copper 

 or brass. 



Indian craftsmen manifest a wide knowledge of the technique and utilisa- 

 tion of these metals and their alloys. The huge brass idols of Burma are cast 

 with appliances and by a staff of operators absurdly inadequate when judged 

 by European standards. Chain bangles and anklets (santh), often worn by the 

 peasants, are moulded in Rajputana and, elsewhere and sold at a few annas a 

 pair that could not be manufactured in Europe or America at so small a price. 

 \Cf. Textile Journ., 1891, i., 78.] Between these extremes in magnitude and 

 intricacy may be said to lie the long range of domestic and sacred utensils, in the 

 production of which the craft has drawn to its ranks men of nearly every caste 

 in addition to the hereditary workers, the kaseras and thatheras. 



Domestic vessels are rarely ornamented because, by ceremonial law, they 

 must be scoured with mud before being washed with water. The commonest 

 copper or brass vessel of the Hindus is the globular melon-shaped lota, which is 

 flattened from the top and possessed of an elegantly reflexed rim. It is doubt- 

 less modelled after the expanding lotus-flower (Weitm6tuM speeiomim). The 

 Muhammadans have given the lota (or, as they call it, the tonti) a spout, in order 

 to secure an approach to the running water ordained by the Koran for their 

 ablutions. The spouted water-pot has given rise to a totally different series of 

 metal-work, both domestic and decorative, from those connected with the Hindu 

 lota. And perhaps to this may also be traced the broader (transverse) develop- 

 ments of Hindu and the narrower (more longitudinal) designs of Muhammadan art. 



Ceremonial implements and the vessels elaborated from these are richly varied 

 in shape and ornamentation. Examples are the kosa or panch-patr, a spathe-like 

 vessel used in raising water ; the kusi or achmani or spoon used by the priests in 

 sprinkling holy water ; the dhupddni or censer ; the sinhasan or idol-throne of 

 lotus-leaf pattern ; the hanging lamps (arti) ; the bells (ghantd), and in particular 

 the chains by which these are suspended in the temples ; and the designs usually 

 adopted for idols, especially those portraying the youth and pastoral existences 

 of Krishna, are all highly artistic and have contributed very greatly to Indian 

 conventional art. The following publications will be found useful as reviewing 

 the chief ^centres and styles of Indian copper and brass work : 



PAN JAB AND NORTHERN INDIA : Kipling, Journ. Ind. Art, 1884, i., pt. 1. ; Old 

 Kashmir Copper Ware, I.e. pt. v. ; also Copper and Brass, Delhi, I.e. 1887, Amritsar, 

 and Lahore, 1888 ; Johnstone, Monog. Brass and Copper Pb., 1888 ; C. H. B. 

 in Civil and Military Oaz., Jan. 5, 1902. UNITED PROVINCES : Benares Ware, 

 Journ. Ind. Art, 1885, i., pt. 7 ; Moradabad Ware, I.e. ; Crooke, Copper and Brass in 

 Mirzapore, I.e. 1893, No. 44; Dampier, Monog. Brass and Copper U. Prov., 1894. 

 RAJPUTANA AND CENTRAL INDIA : Hendley, Jaipur Mus. Cat. ; Brass, Copper 

 and Mixed Metal-wares of Jaipur, Journ. Ind* Art, 1886, i., No. 12; Jaipur, 

 Lucknow, Kashmir, Copper and Brass, etc., I.e. 1891, No. 35. BOMBAY : Hammered 

 Copper in School of Art, Journ. Ind. Art, 1886, i.,No. 11 ; Brass and Copper Bom- 



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