Q. Indian silver is rarely marked. Is it possible to tell where it was made?
A. Although generally unmarked, most Indian silver is characterised by strong regional
designs making it relatively easy to identify where a piece was made.
Bombay. With the opening of the Suez canal in 1869, Bombay became a major trading
centre and silversmiths from all over India settled there, working in their own local
styles. As a result, it is often difficult to distinguish Bombay card cases from
those of other regions. However, certain characteristics, combining decorative styles
from different regions, are evident. For example, a Kutch–Lucknow style combining
typical Kutch scrollwork with hunting scenes and a Kutch–Calcutta style. Some innovative
local silversmiths incorporated Bombay’s urban scene into their designs, but such
designs are rare.
Calcutta. As the centre for British activity in India, Calcutta had a flourishing
industry producing silver for the British Raj. At first, this catered to British
tastes and objects were generally smooth and polished with minimal decoration. However,
Calcutta was chosen as the venue for an international exhibition to be held in 1883.
Conscious of not having a distinct style of its own, the silversmiths of Calcutta
developed a style aimed at matching, if not rivalling, the silver centres of Kutch
and Madras. The style they developed depicted rural scenes of Bengali life such as
villagers picking fruit, fetching water, and planting or harvesting grain; scenes
of festivals and mythology were also incorporated but these invariably also include
depictions of rural life.
Kashmir. Since the early nineteenth century, Kashmir was known to the British for
its distinctive textiles, especially its shawls decorated with patterns that became
known as ‘paisley’ — the name comes from the town of Paisley in Scotland where many
shawls using traditional Kashmiri designs were woven. This distinctive, ornate floral
design was used extensively to decorate silverware, including card cases. Three patterns
that were popular were the coriander (a rosette-shaped pattern), the poppy, and the
spiky leaf of the chinar or plane tree. These patterns were frequently combined to
form an all-over pattern.
Kutch. Card cases from Kutch in Gujarat in the west of India are characterised by
heavily chased designs of all-over abstract floral patterns and arabesques, often
combined with animals or birds. The lack of strong ethnic themes, compared with other
Indian regional styles, made them popular in Europe and both Liberty & Co and Proctor
& Co stocked Kutch silver almost exclusively. The most prestigious silversmith of
the region was a Kutch native called Oomersi Mawji, whose sons joined him in the
profession, and the initials ‘O.M’’ and ‘Bhuj’, the capital of the state of Kutch,
can be found occasionally on card cases.
Lucknow. After 1857, when Lucknow became part of British India, large numbers of
wares were made to cater for British needs. Card cases from Lucknow can be recognised
easily by their jungle and hunting scenes incorporating groves of date palms, animals
and birds.
Madras. In contrast to card cases from Kutch, the cases produced in Madras in the
southeast of the India are highly ornamented with Hindu imagery of gods and goddesses,
temples, religious processions and scenes of music and dance. This style of decoration
is known as swami ware, swami being a generic term for a god. Its strong ethnic decoration
divided opinion amongst Europeans: some were captivated by the ‘heathen deities’,
whilst others viewed the scenes, often depicting voluptuous, heathen goddesses as
‘debased’. One maker of swami ware was the firm of P Orr & Sons. By the 1870s the
firm had earned such a reputation for high-quality workmanship that three maharajas
commissioned it to produce gifts for the Prince of Wales’ visit in 1875. At its peaks
it employed around 600 native craftsmen.
