Under the Raj, the use of silver changed in ways that were delightful, reflecting the dominant lifestyle and design aesthetics of the time. Adapting its use from royal households and religious ceremonies to a more alien world of trophies and tea services, its use in the bar and for gifting, it evolved a strong idiom across different principalities, as evoked in this book of Indian silverware.
Afternoon tea provided the British, especially in India but also in Britain, with the ideal break between lunch and dinner, offering a light refreshment that encouraged relaxation and conversation. British books on etiquette began to include chapters on serving tea, rendering it almost a ritual, though not as complicated as the tea imbibing ceremonial of Korea or Japan.
A silver tea service, consisting of a silver tray holding a teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl was considered the height of good taste. Often, the tea included a tall pot for hot water which was poured into the teapot to steep the tea leaves after the first serving, it being quite customary and proper to accept a second cup of tea.
Tea sets were made in every part of India and decorated in every local tradition of silverware. Madras created stunning silver tea sets decorated with festival processions of the gods in the style known as Swami (gods) silver. Spouts took the form of the mythical lion-like yali, handles were serpents upon which the baby god Krishna crawls upwards, and knobs were shaped as a seated deity.
It was two such Swami tea services that were gifted to the Prince of Wales on his 1875-1876 trip to India, one with an additional 12 cups, saucers, and teaspoons, and intended ‘For “Afternoon” Garden Parties’. Kashmir produced tea services decorated with the popular paisley pattern or with a large leaf adorning each side.
Frequently, they created tea sets in imitation of the kangri, the individual coal burners that Kashmiris carried beneath their long cloaks in the winter months, or in the form of the kang, a water vessel placed at an angle on a round base, resulting in an asymmetrical tea service. Kutch produced heavily embossed wares in floral patterns that meander across the surface, often with a serpent handle; one fanciful tea service was created in the shape of a thickly feathered bird.
Calcutta tea services were adorned with rural scenes, and Lucknow teapots carried the ‘jungle pattern’ with animals beneath tall palms. Each was typical of its region. The exception is a richly patterned tea service created by a Scottish firm, which features a range of curiously hybrid figures within decorated cartouches, and reflects British admiration for ‘Indian’ design. The slim bands of ivory attached to the handles of teapots, milk jugs and hot water pots in many parts of India are intended as insulation from the heat of the contents.
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Once introduced, the British custom took such strong hold that it could be seen in full play as late as the 1970s. At the end of the first day of a Kashmiri trek from Pahalgam up to a glacier, on which we were accompanied by three bearers and a half dozen ponies loaded with equipment, we were encouraged to go and relax beside a rushing stream. Upon returning to the campsite, we encountered two camp chairs and a small table spread with a white tablecloth upon which sat a silver tea service, complete with a silver tea strainer to catch the tea leaves as the amber fluid was poured out!
DELIGHT IN DESIGN
Indian Silver for the Raj
Author: Vidya Dehejia
Publisher: Mapin
PAGES: 224
Price: Rs 2,750
