Breathtaking art on silver artifacts by Bhuj silversmith Oomersi Mawji, adorns world’s most prestigious mantelpieces.
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O M BHUJ claret jug profusely decorated with animals and birds .It has a lion crushing a hare on its lid and a snake snake being charmed up a branch by a snake-charmer playing his 'been' as its handle Pic:Bonhams
Silver gilt presentation trophy from private collection of Wynyard Wilkinson said to have been presented to Lady Wynford by the Kutch Maharao Pic;Bonhams.
Sketch of Oomersi Mawji at work by Percy Brown
Causing a stir at an upcoming exhibition at Bonhams, London ,is a spectacular pear shaped claret jug in silver, elegantly ornamented with repousse work, a serpent entwined around its handle. Crafted in Gujarat’s Bhuj during the late1800’s, this piece-de-resistance is ready to go under the hammer on 2nd October and is one amongst ten lots that are estimated to sell for £40,000 to £ 70,000 in total. Alice Bailey,Head of Bonhams Indian and Islamic Department ,comments, ”This ewer is a stunning example of O.M. craftsmanship at his best. This presents a rare opportunity to collect an outstanding piece by the most celebrated Indian silversmith. Another O.M. work was recently acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia which is currently displaying it.”
Considered ‘the greatest silversmith of the 19th century ‘by connoisseurs of art, the works of Oomersi Mawji of Bhuj are objects of much desire in the global art collectors circuit. Mawji’s works have found shelf space at the world’s greatest museums for art and design .London’s Victoria & Albert Museum holds his classic tea set, Musee Guimet at Paris boasts of a cobra water jug designed by him, Harvard’s Arthur M Sackler Museum prides in a Kutch rose water sprinkler. Custom made to order, with his signature that reads O.M. BHUJ, Mawji’s magnificent trademark designs include ecological elements from Bhuj’s topography, flora and fauna. Oomersi created dramatic designs in unsurpassable repousse relics decorated with a network of profusely scrolling vines, motifs of Indian animals and birds, especially the Sarus ,were at times incorporated with exotic elements such as tiger’s claws, wild boar’s teeth, elephant tusks, mother-of-pearl.
Born to a family of luhars in Bhuj sometime around the 1840’s,Oomersi grew up to prove true the popular Indian saying ‘Sau sonar ki,ek luhar ki’( a blacksmith can achieve in one blow what a goldsmith needs to work a hundred upon ). His distinct talent at designing soon gained him the enviable position of royal court silversmith to Kutch Maharao Shri Mirza Raja Sawai Khengarji Bahadur Nod, founder of the oldest museum in Gujarat. Silver was imported to Kutch from Africa in those days of maritime trade and in the absence of tax levied upon the same, many artisans indulged in designing it for global export. Describing the Kutchi technique of designing silver, C.W. London in ‘Arts Of Kutch’ informs how Kutch silversmiths deftly smoothened and then lined with mercury and sliver the insides of objects with repousse detailing, which requires to be beaten from the reverse side to produce a raised design. For details on the outside which required hammering, the object was filled with resin wax which helped strengthen it with a solid core.Once the piece was ready ,the object was heated and the wax poured out. The artifact was then cleaned with a mild nitric acid solution ,burnished and then polished to sparkle.
While India’s princely rulers commissioned surahis(water jugs) attar-daans (perfume containers),paan-daans (betel boxes),gulab-pash(rosewater sprinklers)and hookahs in silver,the British Raj brought opportunity to manufacturing more modern ware such as tea services,claret jugs,wine decanters,salt cellars,pepper pots and trophies gilded in silver,travel flasks.
Mawji ‘s earliest available work designed on English watermarked paper dates 1863.He drew his designs on paper first as a guide for himself and exhibit for his clients. Gaining immense popularity via his exquisite work, Oomersi attracted the attention of the Maharaja of Baroda who became his chief patron. Mawji and his sons later shifted to Baroda and thereafter signed their work as O.M.Baroda.
From the 1860’s through the firm’s last years in the 1930’s, magnificent designs by Oomersi Mawji and Sons managed to create market for Kutch silver on an international scale. Kutch silver was sold at Liberty of London in 1885 and exhibited prominently in India and Europe. In 1903, at an Indian Art Exhibition, Delhi, artifacts designed by Oomersi Mawji were priced at Rs.1,515 for a vase,Rs.359 for a bowl and Rs.200 for a card tray. Rukmani Kumari Rathore, specialist at Indian Art, Bonhams says,” Indian silver is very collectable at the moment.There has been a lot of interest in silverware from the workshop of Oomersi Mawji especially items with an interesting history and good provenance.O.M items have done well at auction recently.On the 24th of April 2012, at Bonhams last Islamic and Indian sale, O.M.’s silver tea set in the form of three birds sold for £25,625 “
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