Antique Indian Silver Water Flasks (surahi) & Underplates, A Pair – C. 1860

£7,000.00

Description

A pair of silver Surahi chased in Kashmiri shawl pattern with Ganga-Jamuna silver gilt work.

An identical pair of Indian silver surahi, (water flasks) with matching underplates and lids attached to the bodies by chains. The surahi have been ornamented with chased motifs in the Kashmiri shawl pattern, arabesques and paisley motifs.

Kashmiri silversmiths developed their own distinctive and recognizable style of silver ornamentation where the entire body is covered with intricately chased patterns.

Surahi or water bottles made in Kashmir and derived their form from clay goblets used in the northern Punjab. Kashmiri silver craftsmen were able to add elaborate details to this form.

This unusual silver-gilt work is called Ganga-Jamuna, and is named after the Ganges and Jamuna rivers which are found in northern India. The Ganges has white water, whilst its tributary, the Jamuna, has water of a deep blue colour.

Ganga-Jamuna is the term used to describe the combination of a silver base with a parcel gilt applied to portions in relief. The two colours – the gold and silver- create a balancing effect and give the object a “pearly radiance.” As George Birdwood put it: “Their elegant shapes and delicate tracery, graven through the gilding to the dead white silver below, which softens the lustre of the gold to a pearly radiance, gives a most charming effect to this refined and graceful work.”

This pair of Surahi is the finest example of Kashmiri silverwork we have seen, the bottles are elaborately chased and coupled with matching underplates of equal quality of design and execution.

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