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Shri Partap Singh Museum A Collabrative Restoration Project of UNESCO & INTACH - J & K Chapter |
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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. |
 Box  Kalam Daan  Shawl Box  Box  Turban Box  Turban Box |
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