LIME 



CALCIUM SULPHATE 



INDIAN GYPSUM 



Inlaying. 



Mughal Art. 

 Screens (Jolts'). 



Fancy Work. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 195-7. 

 Gypsum 



Occur- 

 rence. 



Madras. 



Bombay. 



Each. 

 Bind. 

 Baluchistan. 



of the skill of the Indian stone-carvers, but not of the art of stone inlaying. 

 Both arts were, however, greatly improved during the time of Akbar's 

 son and grandson. The use of marble became, in fact, the dominant 

 feature of the new school of architecture that assumed such stupendous 

 proportions with the Mughal rulers of India. Perhaps one of the most 

 pleasing and at the same time surprising features of that great school 

 of Indian architecture might be said to be the marvellous filigree screens 

 (jali work), in sandstone or marble, that take the place of the glass windows 

 of European buildings. Keene (Stone Indust. of Agra) gives a very ac- 

 curate and impressive account of the screens at Fatehpur Sikri (constructed 

 1581 A.D.). " The outer screens," he says, " are so minutely pierced 

 that they actually look like lace at a distance, and illuminate the mortuary 

 chamber with a solemn half-light which resembles nothing else that I have 

 seen." In Agra a fairly extensive industry exists in the preparation of 

 screens, tables, fancy boxes, picture frames, plates, vases, etc., as also 

 models of the Taj and other ancient monuments. These are mostly 

 done in white marble, inlaid with agate, carbuncle, carnelian, chalce- 

 dony, jade, jasper, lapis-lazuli, topaz, turquoise, bloodstones, garnets, 

 rubies, sapphires, etc. This art is supposed to have sprung into per- 

 fection with the tomb of Itmad-u-Daula and the Taj (A.D. 1627-1658), 

 and to have almost immediately thereafter gradually declined until at 

 the beginning of the 19th century it had practically disappeared. It is 

 said to have been revived by Dr. J. Murray about fifty years later. It 

 has flourished ever since, the goods produced in Agra being carried for 

 sale by the traders in Indian art wares all over India. 



[Cf. Marble in Architecture and Art : Birdwood, Ind. Art. Ind., 1880, ii., 

 209-19 ; Journ. Ind. Art and Indust., 1885, i., 61 ; Mukharji, Art Manuf. Ind., 

 1888, 35-9, 48-50, 265-6; Lane-Poole, Saracenic Art, 1886, 47-122; Kipling, 

 Journ. Ind. Art and Indust., 1888, ii., 62 ; Indust. Arts (pub. by Council of 

 Education), 1888, 211-20 ; Maurice Mandson, VArtlndien, 1898, 32-50, 97-119; 

 Watt, Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 64-8, 71-9 ; Hankin, Journ. Soc. Arts, 1904-5, 

 liii., 461-77.] 



LIME SULPHATE: GYPSUM, Plaster of Paris. This is the 

 hydrous calcium sulphate generally known as GYPSUM ; when in a fine 

 grained condition, ALABASTER ; and when in transparent crystals, SELE- 

 NITE. On being calcined it parts with some of its water and then con- 

 stitutes PLASTER OF PARIS. The powder thus produced on the addition of 

 water gradually sets, and as it does so expands slightly. It is this property 

 that has made plaster of Paris so exceedingly valuable for making casts 

 and moulds. In India sulphate of lime is known by an extensive series of 

 names such as Jculnar, Jcurpura-silasit, Jcdrsi, sang-i-jerdhat, surma safed, 

 makol, jirah, etc. Plaster of Paris is generally known as gach. 



Occurrence. In the Madras Presidency it has been met with abun-, 

 dantly, but in an impure form, in the cretaceous rocks of Trichinopoly. 

 Masses of gypsum and crystals of selenite are occasionally found in the 

 clays of Chingleput. In Nellore, crystals of greater purity than those 

 found near Madras have been recorded as fairly prevalent. In Bombay, 

 selenite occurs in the marine deposits near the city, also in Kathiawar 

 and in some parts of the Deccan. Very excellent gypsum is found in 

 Each. In Sind, deposits frequently 3 to 4 feet thick occur near the top 

 of the Gaj beds of the Kirthar range. The Mud Gorge, on the Harnai 

 route to Quetta, owes its intractable character to the circumstance that 

 much sulphate of lime is there present, and very largely in the anhydrite 



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