Papier mache is one of the prominent sub-sections
of the decorative arts collection with around 85
artifacts in all. There are a wide range of artifacts from trays, bowls, candle stands, boxes, photo
frames, vases and other decorative items. One
would like to specially mention the Qalamdaans (pen
boxes) and furniture items to be of special interest
in this collection.
Like most of the decorative arts are difficult to date
since there isnot much to go by in terms of
established data about the history of papier mache.
The acquisition records may have more information
of these objects that could also help in dating them
more accurately.
The objects themselves donot carry any information
about the time and place of manufacture. They would
presumably be from the second half or third quarter
of the 19th century and early 20th century, since
most of it has been purchased from the Toushkhana from 1906 to 1922 and there are no evidences of
the early Mughal buta or the bouquet buta or even
the tilted buta. There are a few which have been
purchased by the museum in the 1970’s and even
as recently as 2001.
The evolved style of painting, the use of the paisley
(badam) motifs and the colouring of objects further
supports this assumption, together with the
persisting theme of a stylized floral ‘jaal’ with realistic
rendering of birds, bluebells, pansies and irises,
reflecting European influences and market trends. |
Process
Papier mache from Kashmir can be defined as a
unique form of surface decoration which was mostly
painting (naqashi) applied over an object made
completely from paper pulp or employing any light
weight material as the base.
Traditionally, the process involved making of the
base object (sakhta),with mashed paper also called
saktasaazi, the preparation of the surface with
sareesh and gypsum and several layers of fine paper
before the final stage of painting was done. The
lacquer that was used was also natural and Sir
Walter Lawrence has also mentioned the high quality
of finish that it gave to the final product. All the
different stages of the process were done by
specialized and skilled craftsmen.
Today, the term used popularly in Kashmir is ‘paper
machie’ which has come to represent the traditional
technique surface decoration mostly by painting
(naquashi) applied over an object rather than the
composition of the object which is to be decorated.
Nevertheless the actual painting or naquashi is
always applied over a ground prepared even if the
basic object is made out of varied materials like paper
board, wood and terracotta.
A unique feature of Kashmiri papier mache is the
effect of delicate shading that is obtained by very
fine brush work almost in the manner of fine semi
curvilinear line work known as partaz. A single petal
of a rose flower can have around 12-14 visible brush
strokes. The same technique is also employed to fill in small gaps in the background between various
motifs with fine dots or lines or curved lines. These
features are all superbly demonstrated in the
museum collection.
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