History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c34.s4.t6: Inlay Work
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c34.s4.t6
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Inlay Work
v1.c34.s4.t6.1
The origin of inlay work in India goes back to remote antiquity. There has been a wrong notion among the scholars that the inlay technique in India came from Damascus and hence, the name damascening. In fact, the origin of inlay work in Damascus appears to be quite late, not earlier than 13th century, as compared to its old Indian origin. The technology of a limited use of silver and copper inlay on bronze or brass objects in the Near East may indeed have migrated from the Abbasid heartlands during 11th-12th A.D. which, in its own turn, was influenced from Kashmir, a geographically much closer and adjoining region. The flowering of bronze casting technique in Kashmir is to be associated with the Karmotas, who assumed power in Kashmir sometime in 7th century A.D. The great Karmota king, Lalitaditya ruled over Kashmir in the first half of 8th century A.D. and it is possibly in his reign that the fine datable Buddhist images are largely found. Both silver and copper inlay was used, the silver mostly for the eyes and copper for the inlay of the garments. Buddhism appears to have continued in the eastern Iran and Afghanistan for a few centuries after the Islamic conquest and many such images must have been cast there during Islamic times also.
v1.c34.s4.t6.2
The influence of Kashmir on inlay-work of the Near Eastern Islamic world during the early Islamic period therefore would be a more logical conclusion. Perhaps this tradition, rather than the Abbasid, was responsible for the introduction of small quantities of inlay into Samanid and Ghaznavid bronzes.
v1.c34.s4.t6.3
The inlay of turquoise and copper for the eyes of lion-shaped incense burners, presently housed in the Louvre and Hermitage and signed by ’Al ibn Muhammad al-Taji are, indeed, reminiscent of the early Buddhist tradition. The pre-eminent tradition of the Samanid and Ghaznavid lands for the production of cast-bronze objects in a wide variety of shades would suggest that the thriving Buddhist tradition producing huge quantities of cast images in these lands prior to the advent of Islam might be responsible for the subsequent neighbouring Islamic tradition of inlay workmanship. It is only in the second half of the 12th and the beginning of 13th century that Khurasan and Herat in particular, produced inlaid bronzes and brasses of hitherto unparalleled splendour and intricacy. Here the quality of the casting and the sheet working is superb which would suggest a long-standing tradition in the past. The inlaid objects of brass and copper found from Iraq and Syria follow the Iranian tradition. Damascus followed the same tradition during the 13th century A.D. Hence, it will not be incorrect to suggest that the inlay technique in the Near East and the Arab world had reached from Kashmir which had an earlier tradition of bronze casting.
v1.c34.s4.t6.4
Inlay is meant to fill the depression by use of silver or copper wire on the surface of another metal. In India, inlay has generally been practised on the finished objects of metal, stone and wood. The main purpose of inlaying was to beautify the surface of art objects, may it be ornaments, weaponry or wooden furnitures, and for delineating floral motifs, human and animal figures and abstract motifs and designs in contrasting colours.