Geometrics in Indian Mosaic

 

QUESTION: Recently, as I was browsing the tables at a local garage sale, I came across a unique box covered with tiny bits of stone in intricate geometric patterns. I asked the homeowner if they knew anything about it, but she said she bought it several years ago at another yard sale. I decided to buy the box but I can’t find anything about it. What can you tell me about this box?

ANSWER: Your box is an example of a Sadeli Mosaic, a type of decoration of repeating geometric patterns on a variety of boxes, card cases, and chess boards produced in India since the 16th century. Becoming popular in the 19th century, it’s a type of micro mosaic. Since Bombay (now Mumbai) became a center of making them, they became known as Bombay boxes.

Archaeologists believe the ancient art of Sadeli Mosaic first appeared in Shiraz in Persia by way of Sind to Bombay, a long time before Indian boxes appeared. The designs on early boxes look deceptively simple. They emerged from a culture which had mastered geometry and understood how to generate a pattern from a set number of points. The patterns are so harmoniously combined that their incredible complexity isn’t immediately apparent to the viewer.

While the technique may at first seem exquisitely complex, it’s relatively simple. Nevertheless, it required a great deal of skill and patience.

The first step in creating a Sadeli mosaic was to prepare thin rods by scraping lengths of ivory, bone or wood into the desired shape, usually triangular. Artisans then glued these long thin rods together with animal glue, then sliced them transversely to form a repeat pattern. To get variety and contrast, they used woods like ebony and rosewood, along with natural and green-stained bone and ivory. Often they mixed in circular shaped rods of silver, pewter or tin. Finally, they glued the slices onto the surface of a wooden box, often made of sandalwood. Craftsmen then scraped the surface of the slices to level slight variations. To achieve variations of patterns, they combined the materials in different ways.

Persian and Indian makers of this exquisite decorative technique displayed an understanding of the qualities of the different materials they used. They combined substances, which could expand and contract according to atmospheric conditions with others which were hard and unyielding. The result was a sharp definition of the lines and patterns which made up the whole design.

Beginning in the early part of the 18th century, Indian artisans made what came to be known as Anglo-Indian boxes for the English residents living in India, who eventually brought or sent them back to England. At the beginning of the 19th century, India began exporting these boxes commercially, although not in any significant numbers until the 1850s. People valued them so highly that manufacturers of biscuit tins copied the designs on them in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Anglo-Indian boxes fall into four groups: Rosewood or ebony boxes inlaid with ivory; sandalwood boxes veneered in ivory, tortoiseshell, horn, quills or a combination of these materials; sandalwood boxes covered with Sadeli mosaic; and carved boxes often combined with Sadeli mosaic.

The first two categories came from Vizagapatam in East India while the last two came from Bombay in West India.

English traders discovered the rich woods and intricate workmanship of Indian artisans, so colonial government officials began to recognize the work of the Indian artists and craftsmen as a source for satisfying the need for furniture and boxes, which would both serve to enhance English households in India. This gave rise to the cabinetmaking workshops in Vizagapatam between Calcutta and Madras.

Craftsmen made the first boxes to be decorated with Sadeli Mosaic of rosewood or ebony with ivory, incised to give further definition to the decoration, directly inlaid into the wood. The shape of the early boxes was either sloping at the front with a flatter section at the back, reminiscent of English writing slopes, or rectangular. Artisans inlaid the borders with stylized floral scrolls and the centers with a single floral motif following a circular or oval symmetrical or asymmetrical pattern. The edging was of ivory pinned with ivory pins, or a combination of ivory and wood. Both ornamental and protective, both helped protect the end grain against the weather.

The style of the ornamentation on the early boxes was formal yet flowing and robust, a perfect compliment to the strength and grain of the rosewoods. The boxes often had silver escutcheons and drop handles. Indian artisans made this type of box up to the 1750s.

They also made ivory inlaid boxes in more conventional English shapes, such as writing, document, and jewelry boxes later in the 18th and 19th centuries. The designs by this time had moved on to covering more of the box in an integrated pattern or with a simple edge decoration with a small central motif.

In the early boxes, which date from the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, there are large panels of mosaic covering the tops and sides. It took incredible skill to cover such large areas without any wavering of the pattern. To further enhance the symmetry of these boxes, artisans impeccably matched the corners and where the sides joined the bottom.

To meet the demand, additional Indian workshops began making Sadeli Mosaic boxes in the latter part of the 19th century. The accuracy of execution and the sharpness of design suffered, however, although boxes from this period are pretty and easier to find.

The majority of the boxes found in the antiques market today are from the early to mid 19th century. By the 1820s, Indian craftsmen covered few boxes completely in Sadeli Mosaic, using it  more sparingly combined with other materials, mainly ivory. Latter sandalwood boxes, veneered in ivory, had circles, diamonds or bands of mosaic inserted as further decoration. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Roaring Twenties" in the 2025 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Brooching the Subject

 

QUESTION: While antiquing on a recent weekend, I came across a shop with a display case full of antique brooches. And while I’ve seen old brooches before, I never saw this many together. That got me to wonder how the brooch came to be. What can you tell me about the origin and history of the brooch?

ANSWER: Brooches have a long history dating back to the Bronze Age, originally serving as  fasteners for clothing before evolving into decorative jewelry. Over the centuries, they have been made from various materials and have reflected changing fashions and social status. Brooches became especially popular during Victorian times.

Brooches have  usually been made of silver or gold, decorated with enamel or with gemstones and may have been solely ornamental or serve as a clothes fastener. As fashions in brooches changed quickly, they became historical indicators.  

Before the Middle Ages, brooches were called fibula. With a lack of buttons, they were necessary as clothes fasteners, but also acted as markers of social status for both men and women. During the Iron Age in Europe, metalworking technology advanced dramatically, including casting, metal bar-twisting and wire making. As early as 400 BCE,  Celtic craftsmen in Europe created fibulae decorated in red enamel and coral inlay.

Brooches first appeared in Britain in 600 BCE, lasting until 150 BCE. The most common brooch forms during this time were the bow, the plate, and the penannular brooch. Most of these were cast in one piece, with most from copper alloy or iron. The brooches of this era show Roman jewelry techniques, including repoussé, filigree, granulation, enameling, openwork and inlay. Color was the primary feature of brooches of this period. The precious stone most often used was the almandine, a burgundy variety of garnet, found in Europe and India. Designers would cover the entire surface of an object with the tiny geometric shapes of precious stones or enamel which artisans then polished flat until they were flush with the cloisonné settings, giving the appearance of a tiny stained glass window.

Artisans used many variations in their brooch designs---geometric decoration, intricate patterns, abstract designs from nature, bird motifs and running scrolls. Intertwined beasts were often a signature feature of these intricately decorated brooches. Bow shaped, S-shaped, radiate-headed and decorated disc brooches were the most common styles from the 5th through the 7th centuries. 

Circular brooches first appeared in England in the middle of the 5th century. And by the end of the 6th century, the circular form had become the preferred brooch shape.

Celtic brooches represent a tradition of elaborately decorated penannular and pseudo-penannular types developed in early medieval Ireland and Scotland. However, certain characteristics of Celtic jewelry, such as inlaid millefiori glass and curvilinear styles, have more in common with ancient brooches than contemporary Anglo-Saxon jewelry. 

Scandinavian brooches, generally made of silver and copper alloy, embraced the Germanic animal style of decoration in the Middle Ages. This decorative style originated in Denmark in the late 5th century as a response to late Roman metalwork. 

Viking craftsmen decorated their brooches in one or more of the Viking styles---Oseberg, Borre, Jellinge, Mammen, Ringerike and Urnes. Viking brooches came in seven different forms---circular, bird-shaped, oval, equal-armed, trefoil, lozenge-shaped, and domed disc. Designs featured a variety of decoration, including interlaced gripping beasts, single animal motifs, ribbon-shaped animals, knot and ring-chain patterns, tendrils, and leaf, beast and bird motifs.

Both men and women wore brooches during the late medieval period from 1300 to 1500. Brooches were star-shaped, pentagonal, lobed, wheel, heart-shaped, and ring.  Smaller than other brooches, ring brooches often fastened clothing at the neck. Brooch decoration usually consisted of a simple inscription or gems applied to a gold or silver base. Inscriptions of love, friendship and faith were a typical of ring brooches of this time. Heart-shaped brooches were a popular gift between lovers or friends.

The Renaissance, lasting from 1300 to 1600, was a time of wealth and opulence in the Mediterranean region. Elaborate brooches covered in emeralds, diamonds, rubies, amethyst and topaz or pearls were in fashion, especially with the upper classes.  Brooches with religious motifs and enameled miniature portraits were also popular.

By the beginning of the 18th century ornate brooches made of gold and silver with complex designs were fashionable. By the mid- to late 1700s, simpler forms and designs were more common, with simpler themes of nature, bows, miniature portraits and animals.  

Brooches made during the Neoclassical Period, between 1760 and 1830, featured  classical themes of ancient Greece and Rome. The main difference between Renaissance brooches and Neoclassical jones were that artisans created Renaissance brooches primarily for the upper class and Neoclassical ones for the general public. 

English pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood produced cameo brooches in black basalt and jasper. Cameos and brooches with classical scenes were fashionable during this period.

Cameos, locket brooches, flowers, nature, animal and hearts were popular in the early Victorian era. When Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, died in 1861, brooch design changed to reflect the queen in mourning. Styles turned heavier and more somber, using materials like black enamel, jet, and black onyx.

It was fashionable during this period to incorporate hair and portraiture into a brooch. The practice began as an expression of mourning, then expanded to keepsakes of loved ones who were living. Artisans encased human hair encased within a brooch or braided and wove it into a band to which they attached clasps.

By the early 20th century, brooches appeared with diamonds, typically with platinum or white gold, and colored gemstones or pearls. Popular brooch forms included bows, ribbons, swags, and garlands, all in the delicate new style.

The Art Deco style found a place in modern brooch design. Common decoration included geometric shapes, abstract designs, designs from Cubism, Fauvism, and art motifs from Egypt and India. Artisans used black onyx, coral, quartz, lapis and carnelian along with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Return to Toyland" in the 2024 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Up to Snuff

 

QUESTION: I’ve been fascinated by antique snuff boxes for some time. Most are a bit above my budget, but I’d like to purchase one or two soon. However, I know little about snuff and the origins of these decorative little containers. When did people start taking snuff? And where and where were the first snuff boxes made?

ANSWER: Snuff was a type of smokeless tobacco made from finely ground or pulverized tobacco leaves. Users snorted or "sniffed" it into their nasal cavity by inhaling it lightly after placing a pinch of it either onto the back of their hand, by pinching some between their thumb and index finger, or holding a specially made "snuffing" device.

Friar Ramón Pane, a missionary who came to the New World with Christopher Columbus in 1493, was the first European to witness the inhaling of snuff by the Taino people of Haiti. Until then, tobacco was unknown to Europeans. But by the 1650s, artisans were making small boxes the snuff dry.

Traditional snuff production consisted of a lengthy, multi-step process, in tobacco snuff mills. The selected tobacco leaves were first cured or fermented, which gave it the  individual characteristics and flavor for each type of snuff blend. Many blends of snuff required months to years of special storage to reach the required maturity. Fine snuff consisted of varieties of blended tobacco leaves without the addition of scents. Varieties of spice, piquant, fruit, floral, and mentholated soon followed, either pure or in blends. 

Each snuff manufacturer usually had a variety of unique recipes and blends, as well as special recipes for individual customers. Common flavors also included coffee, chocolate, Bordeaux wine, honey, vanilla, cherry, orange, apricot, plum, camphor, cinnamon, rose and spearmint.

The 18th century witnessed an increase in the use of snuff, especially among the English and French aristocracy. Because it was a small, fine substance, it needed a vessel to contain it. Both snuff and the little boxes that contained it became important expressions of class. Originally made for daily use, snuff boxes became important symbols of personal representation. Snuff taking had become an important marker of social status.

Although men could ingest other forms of tobacco, both men and women could take snuff. Tobacco would often be used by men while socializing in coffeehouses, thus becoming linked to public masculinity.

Taking snuff could be unpleasant, especially if there were a crowd in a room. In the act of ingesting it, a person had to remain dignified. Society considered it rude for snuff takers to make excessive noise making or reaction. Like tea or coffee consumption at this time, it wasn’t only about the substance being ingested: but the ingestion itself that had to adhere to society’s rule.

The manufacture of snuff boxes became a lucrative industry when taking snuff was fashionable. Snuff boxes ranged from those made of horn to ornate designs featuring precious materials made using state-of-the-art techniques. Since prolonged exposure to air caused snuff to dry out and lose its quality, manufacturers designed snuff boxes to be airtight containers with strong hinges, generally large enough to hold a day's worth of snuff. The wealthy kept larger snuff containers, called mulls, on their dinner tables for use at dinner parties. These could be quite elaborate and often included rams horns decorated with silver or in some cases a depiction of the head of a ram.

In the early 18th century, French jewelers created snuff boxes of gold set with diamonds, amethysts, and sapphires. By 1740, specialized artisans took over the production of these ornate tabatières, which they engraved, chased, and enameled. 

The shapes of these boxes weren’t limited to rectangular boxes. Porcelain containers resembling little trunks were popular, as were ovals, but tabatières shaped like shells were more rare. And while the materials used to construct a box were often enough for its decoration, sometimes artisans hand painted these snuff boxes, depicting everything from miniature landscapes and bucolic scenes to tiny portraits or cameos of their owners.

Miniatures often adorned the lids of snuff boxes. These could be scenes from various mythological, Biblical, or pastoral settings, but portraiture was the most common decoration, especially on those boxes given as gifts. It was usually men who adorned the portraiture present on the jewelry of women.

Silver snuff boxes became associated with Sheffield, England, where silver-plating had been perfected on these small containers in the late 18th century. By the early 19th century, the silver industry had blossomed in Birmingham, England, where snuff box makers such as Samuel Pemberton, Nathaniel Mills, and Edward Smith produced oblong containers with images of castles and abbeys on their tops and sides.

Birmingham was also a center for papier-mâché snuff boxes, which manufacturers hardened using several layers of enamel. A market for these inexpensive boxes developed in the United States, so Birmingham box makers began decorating their wares with portraits of U.S. naval heroes and victory scenes from the War of 1812, often using engravings by such renowned American artists as Gilbert Stuart as their source material.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Art Deco World" in the 2024 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

A Silver Alternative

 

QUESTION: As I was browsing a weekly flea market, I came upon a curious silver vase—at least I thought it was silver. But when I picked it up, it felt like glass and was much lighter than silver. The dealer said it was Mercury glass. I never heard of such a thing. Can you tell me more about it?

ANSWER: As the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, the growing middle class wanted inexpensive alternatives to the silver objects owned by the wealthy. One of those alternatives was Mercury glass, first made as an inexpensive silver substitute. Soon it evolved into an art form of its own.

First produced in the late 18th century, Mercury glass was a handblown, double-walled glass with an interior coating of silver-colored metal compounds. It took many forms, including candlesticks, compotes, candy dishes, plates, goblets, wig stands, curtain tiebacks, and doorknobs. Some critics condemned it for looking too much like mirrored glass and too little like silver, which was what people liked about it.

Produced originally from around 1840 until around 1930 in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, and Germany, it spread to England in 1849 when Edward Varnish and Frederick Hale Thomson patented the technique for silvering glass vessels, and continued to be made there until 1855.

Mercury glass, also known as silvered glass, contains neither mercury nor silver. It's actually clear glass, mold-blown into double-walled shapes and coated on the inside with a silvering solution containing silver nitrate and grape sugar, heated, then closed. Sealing methods included metal discs covered with a glass round in England, or a cork inserted into the unpolished pontil scar on the bottom in America. In the beginning a few Bohemian makers tried to line their pieces with a mercury solution, but they stopped using it due to expense and toxicity. However, this is where the name originated.

Companies in the United States, including the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, New England Glass Company Union Glass Company, and the Boston Silver Glass Company, made silvered glass from about 1852 to 1880. The New England Glass Company displayed a variety of silvered glass articles, including copper wheel engraved goblets, vases and other tableware at the 1853 New Crystal Palace Exhibition.

Bohemian Mercury glassmakers decorated their pieces with a variety of techniques including painting, enameling, etching, and surface engraving. Antique historians believe it to be the first true "art glass"---glass made for display and for its artistic value rather than for everyday use.

The peak of Mercury glass’ popularity came in the mid-19th century. Back then, high-quality European and American-made pieces were lightweight, had graceful forms, and came decorated with acid-etched fruit or floral motifs, cut glass designs, and sometimes paint. Young girls, working on assembly lines, painted vases in particular with their own designs of swans, daisies, or leaves. Makers intended the details on their pieces to be equal to the finest decoration on other forms of glass and china.

After briefly falling out of favor, Mercury glass reappeared around 1900 in the form of Christmas ornaments and gazing balls, as well as blown fruits and flowers. Today, most serious collectors concentrate on antique forms, like curtain pins, salt cellars, or pedestal-footed silvered vases.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Art Deco World" in the 2024 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Inside Out

 

QUESTION: While browsing a recent antique show, I discovered a delightful little copper box with what looked like an embossed design. The dealer told me it was probably made around the turn of the 20th century or at least before World War I. She said the design was repoussé on copper. I’d like to know more about this repousse technique. Can you give me a bit of history and an explanation of how it’s done?

ANSWER: There are two techniques for hammering copper—chasing and repousse. The difference between the two is that chasing pushes the metal in from the front side while repousse pushes the metal out from the backside.  Both techniques frequently employ a backing to support the work material and confine the movement of the metal to the immediate area around the tool.

While the word repoussé comes from the French word repoussage, meaning "pushed up," the word chasing, which also derives from the French word chasser, meaning ”to drive out.” Repousse is a metalworking technique in which an artisan shaped a malleable metal by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in low relief. Chasing is a similar technique in which the piece is hammered on the front side, sinking the metal. The two techniques are often used in conjunction. Many metals can be used for chasing and repoussé work, including gold, silver, copper, and alloys such as steel, bronze, and pewter. Tool marks are often intentionally left visible.

With the simplest technique, sheet gold could be pressed into designs carved in intaglio in stone, bone, metal or even materials such as jet. The gold could be worked into the designs with wood tools or, more commonly, by hammering a wax or lead "force" over it.

Both techniques date from antiquity and have been used widely with gold and silver for fine detailed work, such as the burial mask of King Tutankhamun, and copper, tin, and bronze for larger sculptures, such as the Statue of Liberty. Both methods require only the simplest tools and materials, and yet allow great diversity of expression. They’re also more affordable, since there’s no loss or waste of metal, which mostly retains its original size and thickness.

Before the use of repousse, ancient artisans pressed gold sheet into a die to work it over a design in cameo relief. Here the detail would be greater on the back of the final design, so some final chasing from the front was often carried out to sharpen the detail.

In 1400 BCE, ancient Egyptians used resin and mud as a softer backing for repoussé. The use of patterned punches dates back to the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE  Craftsman made the simplest patterned punches using loops or scrolls of wire.

By 400 BCE., the ancient Greeks had begun using a combination of punches and dies on a beeswax backing to produce repousse on their bronze armor plates.

The resurgence of repousse and chasing first occurred in England during the late 19th century as part of the British Arts & Crafts Movement. Most notably was the work produced at the Keswick School of Industrial Arts, founded in 1884 by Canon Hardwicke and his wife, Edith Rawnsley, as an evening class in woodwork and repoussé metalwork at the Crosthwaite Parish Rooms, in Keswick, Cumbria. Hardwicke designed the curriculum to alleviate unemployment. The school  prospered, and within 10 years more than 100 men had attended classes. 

The school prospered and swiftly developed a reputation for high quality copper and silver decorative metalwork. By 1888 nearly 70 men were attending the classes. By 1890 the school was exhibiting nationally and winning prizes; Its students numbering over 100,  it had outgrown its cramped home in the parish rooms, forcing Rawnsley to raise funds for a purpose-built school nearby.

The Newlyn Industrial Class, later renamed the Newlyn Art Metal Industry, established in 1890 by John D. Mackensie, was similar to Keswick and shared a common purpose with it. Inspired by the teachings of John Ruskin, they aimed to provide a source of employment in small communities where work came and went with the seasons. At the Newlyn classes, held in a net loft above a fish-curing yard, the pupils were mainly fishermen, while at Keswick students were pencil makers, laborers, gardeners, shepherds, and tailors.

Both metal workshops specialized in the production of repoussé copper work, This technique and material was popular with amateur craftsmen and women across the country because it was easy to learn. A student placed a flat piece of copper face down on a bed of pitch, or, as in the Newlyn workshops, lead. These materials were chosen because they would yield to the force of the blows of the punch but would still support the metal. Once a student had punched the design out from the reverse, he or she turned the metal over and chased finer details on the front.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Age of Photography" in the 2023 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.