Casket
ca. 1880 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This casket is made of blued steel – steel with a vivid blue finish produced by heating – covered with a fine tracery of gold overlaid decoration. It has an architectural form inspired by traditional Mughal-style pavilions. It was acquired by Caspar Purdon Clarke during his 1881–1882 mission to India to buy contemporary decorative arts for the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum). He listed it as having been designed by a student at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore, in present-day north-east Pakistan. It was made in nearby Sialkot, a renowned centre of kuftkari – gold overlaid onto steel, traditionally used in weapons manufacture in the region until the British banned production after the annexation of the Panjab in 1849.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Steel, blued and inlaid with gold |
| Brief description | Casket, blued steel inlaid with gold, Sialkot, ca. 1880 |
| Physical description | The octagonal casket is of architectural form, having a dome topped by a lotus bud finial, projecting upper section imitating the chajja, or eaves, that are found in much Indian architecture, and engaged columns supporting cusped and ogival arches. It is made of blued steel overlaid with gold, and has applied details such as the knop, engaged columns, and openwork borders at top and bottom of each panel also of gold-overlaid steel. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | CASKET
Blued steel overlaid with gold
Sialkot
c. 1880
IS.2411: 1, 2-1883
The maker of this casket changed the dull grey surface colour of the steel to vivid blue by applying intense heat. Caspar Purdon Clarke, the first Keeper of the museum’s Indian Department, bought the casket during his 1881–2 visit to India to collect contemporary decorative arts. It was designed by a student
at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore and made in Sialkot.(27/9/2013) |
| Object history | Bought by Caspar Purdon Clarke during his 1881-2 mission to India to buy contemporary "industrial arts" for the museum and listed by him as having been made designed by a student of the Mayo School of Art in Lahore and made at Sialkot, a traditional centre of kuftkari, the name for the technique of overlaying gold onto steel. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This casket is made of blued steel – steel with a vivid blue finish produced by heating – covered with a fine tracery of gold overlaid decoration. It has an architectural form inspired by traditional Mughal-style pavilions. It was acquired by Caspar Purdon Clarke during his 1881–1882 mission to India to buy contemporary decorative arts for the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum). He listed it as having been designed by a student at the Mayo School of Art in Lahore, in present-day north-east Pakistan. It was made in nearby Sialkot, a renowned centre of kuftkari – gold overlaid onto steel, traditionally used in weapons manufacture in the region until the British banned production after the annexation of the Panjab in 1849. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.2411:1-1883 |
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| Record created | October 16, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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