On the back of last week’s Diwali post, I thought I’d write about craftsmanship in Delhi as I had covered tin foil work there. The picture above comes from an American advertisement placed by the Indian State Railways in the 1930s, aiming to tap into a nascent tourist market.
The coppersmith and his apprentice are perhaps posing for the picture but it’s worth noting that Delhi’s copper and brassware was second to none in the past. In the 1880s for example, British officials raved about the Delhi’s copperware Deghchis (copper utensils) which made a stellar entry in the gazetteers:
“In Lahore and other copper bazaars, visitors are invariably offered real Delhi Deghchis; and most of the smiths from other places admit that they are not so skilful as those at Delhi. In shaping a circular vessel of changing diameter, they find it necessary to solder pieces on, while a good Delhi coppersmith shapes the whole without joint from one piece.”
Yet in the crosshairs of colonial capitalism, Delhi’s copper and brassware quickly came into competition with cheaper German goods which flooded Delhi’s market. Indeed, it seems that in the late 19th and early 20th century Delhi everything had a German flavour; postcards were published in Germany, cheap utensils were shipped to Delhi’s markets and one can’t forget the demand for German toys, as I have written about earlier.
To conclude the post on craftsmanship, below is a picture of a potter in Delhi, again from the 1930s decorating porcelain pottery. Considered ‘anaemic’ in comparison to Multan ware by British officials, Delhi’s porcelain pottery was a relatively new craft in the 20th century. Potters had migrated to the city from Jaipur but their blue and green porcelain decoration wasn’t seen to be of the same standard. I’m sure the potter in the picture would disagree and given his fantastic pieces, so should we.
See you next Friday for more on Delhi.
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