Read more about "Silver from India", from specific regions.
Kashmir, considered a kind of paradise since Mughal time, was known for its shawls of a characteristic, mango-shaped “bouteh,” or paisley, design. Local silversmiths, predominantly Muslim by culture, incorporated paisley patterns into silver objects. Popular forms include the region’s forms of kashukul (boat-shaped bowl) and kangri (a hand-warmer made to hold charcoal), which were incorporated into tea services.
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Kashmir, considered a kind of paradise since Mughal time, was known for its shawls of a characteristic, mango-shaped “bouteh,” or paisley, design. Local silversmiths, predominantly Muslim by culture, incorporated paisley patterns into silver objects. Popular forms include the region’s forms of kashukul (boat-shaped bowl) and kangri (a hand-warmer made to hold charcoal), which were incorporated into tea services.
Another popular Kashmiri theme for silver was the Chinar-leaf design. The booune (chinar) was introduced to Kashmir in about 1586, by Akbar, who arranged for the planting of about 1200 booune trees near the sacred shrine of Hazratbal. The next autumn, when the leaves of the booune tree turned red, the emperor saw the tree from afar and cried out, “Chin-nar!” which means blazing color. From that time forward, the tree was called Chinar and considered the characteristic emblem of Kashmir.
Kashmir Tea Service
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sterling silver
The teapot is 9 1/2 in.
(24.13 cm) handle to spout,
61/2 in. (16.51 cm) tall.
(24.13 cm) handle to spout,
61/2 in. (16.51 cm) tall.
Tea Service Total Weight: 48 oz. (1,360.77 grams)
This superb Kashmir late-19th-century tea service is in unique raised-octagonal form, the most desired of all teaware designs. It has allover brilliant arabesque-inspired streaming-leaf-and-vine decoration, the seemingly endless leaves set within elaborate interwoven and various-shaped medallions. The design is referred to as “mosaic pattern,” and bears some similarity to contemporaneous shawl design.
This tea service’s thick, well-formed, octagonal, domed covers are preserved. The cream jug has a hinged cover, and the smaller pieces are topped with the original, shaped-bud–form finials. The teapot has its original hand-carved and sterling bell-cap finial and conforming hand-carved leaf-cap C-scroll handle.
Kang-Style, “Tilted” Three-Piece Tea Service
Kashmir, India, ca. 1880
Sterling Silver
Total weight: 30.8 oz. (837 grams) Weight: 3.89 oz. (110.3 grams)
This charming three-piece service is in the Kang-style. The tilted form is also used in some Lucknow pieces, but the silver design and work in this set mark it as clearly Kashmiri. The teapot and creamer both have cobra handles, but the coiled-cobra finial on the teapot is a particularly nice touch, and not often seen. The interiors are gilded, which is somewhat surprising for a tea service.
See similar tea service in Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858-1947, p. 109; and in Vidya Dehejia’s Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj, p. 171-73.
Art Deco Tea Service
Kashmir, ca. 1930
Sterling silver
Teapot: 5 1/4 in. h, 10 x 3 3/8 in. w (13.3 h, 25.5 x 8.5 w cm)
Weight: 19 1/2 oz. (554 Gram)Sugar bowl: 3 3/4 in. h, 6 1/2 in. x 2 5/8 in. w (9.5 h, 16.5 x 6.7 w cm)
Weight: 10 1/4 oz. (289 Gram)
Cream jug: 3 3/4 in. h, 6 3/8 in. x 2 1/2 in. w (9.5 h, 16.2 x 6.5 w cm)
Weight: 9 3/4 oz. (276 Gram)
The pieces are marked “925” to indicate the silver content; “T” to indicate the date of import (1993); Δ to indicate Birmingham, the city where they were assayed; and “HW,” to indicate the importer.
Raj Art Déco sterling silver three-piece tea service, comprising teapot, sugar bowl, and milk jug. Much of Indian silver dates from the late-nineteenth century, but this stunning and unusual design can only date from the Art Déco period in the 1930s. The pattern is typically Kashmiri. Each piece rests on four ball-shaped feet, and the teapot has an ebony handle.
Lotus-Shaped Sugar Bowl
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sterling silver
Dimension: 3 3/4 in. x 2 in. high (9.5 x 5 cm high)
Weight: 3.89 oz. (110.3 grams)
An important Kashmiri sterling-silver sugar bowl in a form of a lotus, the interior having a gold wash, making the piece particularly beautiful when viewed from above. Kashmir began to craft European-influenced silver in the 1820s. Their silversmiths developed several distinct decorative forms, two of which were the mosaic and shawl patterns, which were drawn from the brilliant mosaic panels in great Mogul houses, and from the popular, paisley-patterned Kashmiri shawls.
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sweetmeat dish decorated with two typically Kashmiri themes: the chinar leaf and the mango-shaped paisley design. The piece is composed of three chinar leaves, with each leaf having larger flowers superimposed on smaller, densely incised flowers. The stems of the larger flowers have been placed to suggest the veins of the individual leaves, and the three leaves have been joined by a pierced design of additional stems and leaves.
Three-Leaf Chinar-Shaped Sweetmeat Dish
Sterling silver
Dimensions: 6 in. l x 7 in. w
(15.2 cm length x 17.8 cm wide)
Weight: 3.59 oz. (121 grams)
Sweetmeat dish decorated with two typically Kashmiri themes: the chinar leaf and the mango-shaped paisley design. The piece is composed of three chinar leaves, with each leaf having larger flowers superimposed on smaller, densely incised flowers. The stems of the larger flowers have been placed to suggest the veins of the individual leaves, and the three leaves have been joined by a pierced design of additional stems and leaves.
From the collection of Mr. Mark R. Bates, of Portland, Oregon, whose grandfather, a member of the London regiment the Royal Fusiliers, while stationed in Calcutta during the late 1800s, traveled throughout India and collected many pieces of Indian silver.
Pair of Chinar-Shaped Sweetmeat Dishes
Sterling silver
Dimensions: 5 in. l x 5 1/2 in. w
(12.7 cm length x 14 cm wide)
Weight: 5.42 oz. (216 grams)
This pair of chinar-leaf sweetmeat dishes are so similar to the three-part sweetmeat dish described earlier that they are likely the work of the same workshop, if not the same silversmith. In this pair of dishes, the stems of the leaves loop around to form the handles of the dishes.
Though the two have shield-shaped cartouches for monograms, the pair, in fact, have never been personalized.
See similar sweetmeat dishes in Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858-1947, p. 113; and in Vidya Dehejia’s Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj, p. 167.
Chinar Decorated Bowl
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sterling silver
Dimensions: 4 3/8 in. h x 4 3/8 in. wide (11 x 11 cm)
2 3/16 in. h (5.5 cm)
Weight: 6.42 oz. (182 grams)
This is a high-grade silver bowl with a rounded square form. The répoussé and chased work is as dense as that of Kutch, but this Kashmiri decoration consists of a series of chinar vegetal and floral designs, and the pierced border is decorated with fully open flowers. It is also interesting to note that the Kashmiri silversmith has, further, shifted the base 45 degrees from the bowl itself. See similar sweetmeat dish in Vidya Dehejia’s Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj, p. 166.
Kashmiri Sugar Bowl with Chinar Decoration
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sterling silver
Dimension: 3 in. high (7.7 cm)
Weight: 5 oz. (141 grams)
This is a round cup of high-grade silver, with a decorative band at the op. The répoussé and chased pattern is the Kashmiri region’s characteristic chinar-leaf design. The cup portion is adorned with chinar and acanthus leaves.
Kashmiri Creamer in Form of Kangri
See similar creamer in Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858-1947, p. 108; and in Vidya Dehejia’s Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj, p. 157.
Exquisite Kashmiri bowl worked with a pattern of the characteristic Kashmiri themes of chinar leaf and mango, or paisley, shape.
A Kashmiri milk jug with cobra handle and graceful form and spout, decorated overall with flowers, leaves, and vines, not the typical Kashmiri chinar leaves, but some other species.
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sterling silver
Dimension: 4 3/4 in. high (12 cm)
Weight: 5.5 oz. (156 grams)
A Kashmiri creamer in the fanciful form of a kangri, which is a small clay pot designed to hold hot charcoal, which is carried next to the body as a source of warmth in cold weather. Kangris were used in the time of the Mughal Empire in India, and every Kashmiri knows how to handle the apparatus with care.
See similar creamer in Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson’s Indian Silver 1858-1947, p. 108; and in Vidya Dehejia’s Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj, p. 157.
Kashmiri Bowl
Kashmir, India, ca.1890
Sterling Silver
Dimensions: 4 1/8 in. diam., 2 in. high (10.5 x 5 cm)
Weight: 7.6 oz. (215.8 grams)
Exquisite Kashmiri bowl worked with a pattern of the characteristic Kashmiri themes of chinar leaf and mango, or paisley, shape.
Kashmiri Milk Jug with Cobra Handle
Kashmir, India, ca. 1890
Sterling silver
Dimension: 4 1/4 in. handle to spout (10.9 cm)
Weight: 2.8 oz. (79 grams)
A Kashmiri milk jug with cobra handle and graceful form and spout, decorated overall with flowers, leaves, and vines, not the typical Kashmiri chinar leaves, but some other species.
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