Chats on Old Copper and Brass

by Fred. W. Burgess

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.

Various Indian Wares.

There is an Indian ware known as bidri, beautifully damascened in gold on a brass and copper base, chiefly made in the villages round Lucknow and Deccan from the seventeenth century onwards. The peculiarity of these objects is that they are distinctly black and white, the metal consisting of an alloy of zinc, copper, and lead afterwards damascened with silver which is finally blackened by pickling. A favourite curio is a Betel-nut box and cover; there are also spice boxes and objects intended for the base of a water-pipe. Many of the choice curios from Kashmir in Northern India are mostly of a dark red-brown copper, and are frequently incised and inlaid with lac. Among them are domestic vessels, the most commonly met with being the coffee-pot (Kafijosh). In one famous collection there is a curious boat-shaped alms-bowl of copper, chased with a running ornament, a design frequently employed in the eighteenth century. There are some interesting Mogul brasses, among which are washhand basins. In these, too, the decorations are frequently filled in with black lac. Very different are the brass and copper objects from the Punjab. Some of pure copper are inlaid with black lac, others are of copper-gilt, looking in the sunlight like burnished gold. Some are of brass; among the older objects of special interest being charcoal burners of fine brass with dome-shaped covers. From the Punjab come copper toilet boxes, which are usually fitted with locks terminating in the form of a conventional lotus. One of the most curious treasures in the Indian Museum secured from that district is a "black" cup, made of a metal composed of quicksilver and copper, a metallic compound supposed to give a digestive virtue to any liquid drank out of it.

The variety of metal objects from Nepal is considerable. There are articles of home decoration and usefulness, including charming toilet sundries. Among the lamps are many weird forms, a favourite being a lamp designed like a peacock's tail supported by a lion. There are inkpots of symbolical forms with figures of Ganasa, the Hindoo god of wisdom. There are also many decorative water-bottles and vases and beautifully formed tazzas; as well as charming toilet boxes with raised diaper ornament and conventional patterns.