Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj

Delight in Design is a richly illustrated volume that focuses on the remarkable ornamented silverware produced by Indian craftsmen during the period of the British Raj.  Silversmiths created elegant silver tea services, bowls, wine and water ewers, beer mugs, and goblets to adorn the sideboard or mantelpiece inj a British Raj home, producing European forms fulfilling European requirements.  These same silversmiths then adopted a unique manner of embellishing these objects with a variety of different motifs that reflected local taste and carried a recognizably local pattern.  A tea service made in Kutch would feature heavily embossed work, perhaps with a wonderful twisted snake as its handle, and a magnificent elephant head where its spout emerged from the pot.  If made in Madras, the teapot would be decorated with images of gods being carried in temple processions to the accompaniment of music and dance, giving this ware the designation of Swami (god) silver.  If from Calcutta, it would bear a series of rural scenes – men and women carrying water, husking grain, or ploughing fields, against a backdrop of palm trees and village huts.  This book comprises a set of five essays that explore different facets of the production and consumption of Indian silver for the Raj.  Initially made as gifts and trophies for the British in India, this embellished silverware was soon thereafter available for purchase in Europe as well, especially following the high visibility achieved by Indian silver in the course of the many international exhibitions and expositions held in Europe during the second half of the 19th century.  So much so that both Liberty & Co. of Regent Street and Proctor & Co. of Oxford Street set up their own workshops in India to make silver items for sale in their London stores.  The book considers the silverware in terms of its clearly distinguishable regional styles, and is prefaced by two thematic sections, one on calling card cases and the other on tea services, which demonstrate their wide prevalence.  The book’s visual presentation of the silverware does justice to its dazzling quality.