A Wealth of Metal on View.
The collection of Asiatic metal-work where specimens from different countries, made at various periods, can be compared is, par excellence, that in the Indian Museum (the best examples of richly wrought damascened armour and arms are found in the Wallace Collection and at the Tower). The visitor on entering is at once absorbed in admiring Indian curiosities, especially the products of native craftsmen. In the vestibule are many remarkable exhibits, the work of Nepal metal-workers. Most of them were gifts to King George and Queen Mary when they visited India on the occasion of the great Coronation Durbar at Delhi. Some of the larger pieces were the gift of the Maharajah and Prime Minister of Nepal. Very wonderful is their workmanship, especially that of the brass groups so true to life. One of these represents a hunting elephant, fully equipped, with attendants; others, too, are associated with sports and hunting scenes. There are emblems of demons and the evil spirits which are so fully believed in by native dwellers on the borders of the forest.
Temple vessels are abundant, and among them are monsters and other fabulous creatures, and numbers of masks, notably those representing the fierce Dragpo fiend Tamdin (see [Chapter XIV]). There are some fine temple sets, and two magnificent conventional lions (temple guardians). There is also a very interesting brass group of natives occupied in various ways, one, for instance, carrying a package on his shoulder illustrating the method of relieving the weight of the bundle by a forehead strap, by which means natives are enabled to sustain the strain.
FIG. 66.—JAPANESE KETTLE (YUWAKASHI)).
FIG. 67.—PAIR OF VASES OF RED-BROWN COPPER, RELIEVED WITH BLACK LAC, FROM MORADABAD.
(In the author's collection.)
So intricate are many of these cleverly modelled groups that it is not always easy to understand how they have been cast. Especially remarkable is the founding of the figure groups produced by the natives of the Patan district of Nepal. In most cases they accomplished their task by the circe perdu process (see [Glossary]), which enables them to cast even the most delicate groups.
Some very interesting wares in metal are obtained from Moradabad; they are smooth and beautifully finished, made of brass, and partly tinned. The more decorative pieces are of the early nineteenth century, and include such objects as plates, water-jars, tumblers, and sugar-pots and covers. From Lucknow some fine trays are secured; and many beautiful brass ewers, bowls, and basins have been obtained from Haidarabad, where not only comparatively modern but early eighteenth-century brasswork is to be found. Some of these have a pleasing effect when polished, the design or pattern upon them being inlaid with copper on a brass foundation and then polished.