Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Images are beautiful bright and vivid. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> Metalwork has always been to India what ceramics are to China. During the fabled Mughal age the craftsmen of the Sultans and Rajahs of India produced an astonishing variety of objects in gold and gold enamel silver brass bronze gilt copper and the Deccani alloy known as bidri. The finest of these are among the most striking and poet- ic utilitarian wares ever made in addition to being of the most outstanding technical refinement. The event which determined the character of these arti- facts was the Islamic invasion of India. Thenceforward India would look west to the Middle East and especially to Iran for standards in its literary culture and visual arts. Yet while India interpreted she seldom imitated; and sometimes her interpretations surpassed her models. Order beauty richness restraint and sensuousness describe the essence of these works of art whose great- ness derives from the meeting of two worlds. Such min- gling of Hindu and Muslim sensibilities gave Mughal art the strength to endure just as religious tolerance gave political strength to the Mughal emperors. The twin stars of Islamic art calligraphy and the intricate arabesque transplanted to the banks of the Ganges shone with a new vigour. Styles were however modified by the prac- tices of local craftsmen and in time the kings themselves developed a taste for Indian innovations. (OS)