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拍品專文
The best known of Lucknow's artistic production, and those which no doubt led to Reverend William Tennant's apt characterization of the city in 1798 as a 'blaze of wealth and magnificence', are the wonderful silver and silver-gilt objects decorated in brilliant enamels. The tradition of enamelling is in fact one which was entirely imported to India and its neighbouring regions, where it had no local tradition. European jewellers who arrived in India in the 16th and early 17th centuries brought with them the technique and passed it on to the technically apt and aesthetically inventive Indian artists (Manuel Keene, Treasury of the World. Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals, exhibition catalogue, London, 2001, p.62). Not only were the techniques borrowed from Europe, but - as clearly demonstrated by the portrait medallions that decorate our huqqa base - so were the subjects.
The confluence of the European and Indian artistic traditions in this medium are known from as early as the late 16th/early 17th century. One such example is a ring in the Al-Sabah collection, which is purely Indian in form but European in both colour and decorative scheme (LNS 1164 J, Keene, op.cit., no.6.1, pp.62-63). Like the ring, our huqqa base combines an Indian form, also a favourite with the enameller, with very European decoration. By the last quarter of the 18th century large parts of the subcontinent were in European hands, and many of the Europeans living there were enthusiastic huqqa smokers (Mark Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1987, p.241). Certain firms in England, such as Turner and Co., created huqqa bases for 'captains and others going to the East Indies' (Zebrowski, op.cit., p.241). One surviving example is a Wedgewood style jasper-ware huqqa, Indian in shape but Western in decoration, with moulded swags and ribbons in white against a blue background. The arrival of such pieces in India affected the design of locally made articles. Neoclassical designs, for instance, are known on some bidri huqqa bases, such as one in a private collection (published in Zebrowski, op.cit., no.401, p.237).
Lucknow was home to a large number of Europeans following its annexation by the East India Company in the 19th century. Works from Lucknow commissioned for European patrons are known. Many of these are paintings, but a sword in Kuwait, decorated like our huqqa base in bright enamels, uses architectural vignettes that reflect compositions found in chinoiserie, widely fashionable in Europe and again probably for a European patron (Stephen Markel, '"This Blaze of Wealth and Magnificence": The Luxury Arts of Lucknow', India's Fabled City. The Art of Courtly Lucknow, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles and Paris, 2011, no.93, pp.204-05).
The confluence of the European and Indian artistic traditions in this medium are known from as early as the late 16th/early 17th century. One such example is a ring in the Al-Sabah collection, which is purely Indian in form but European in both colour and decorative scheme (LNS 1164 J, Keene, op.cit., no.6.1, pp.62-63). Like the ring, our huqqa base combines an Indian form, also a favourite with the enameller, with very European decoration. By the last quarter of the 18th century large parts of the subcontinent were in European hands, and many of the Europeans living there were enthusiastic huqqa smokers (Mark Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1987, p.241). Certain firms in England, such as Turner and Co., created huqqa bases for 'captains and others going to the East Indies' (Zebrowski, op.cit., p.241). One surviving example is a Wedgewood style jasper-ware huqqa, Indian in shape but Western in decoration, with moulded swags and ribbons in white against a blue background. The arrival of such pieces in India affected the design of locally made articles. Neoclassical designs, for instance, are known on some bidri huqqa bases, such as one in a private collection (published in Zebrowski, op.cit., no.401, p.237).
Lucknow was home to a large number of Europeans following its annexation by the East India Company in the 19th century. Works from Lucknow commissioned for European patrons are known. Many of these are paintings, but a sword in Kuwait, decorated like our huqqa base in bright enamels, uses architectural vignettes that reflect compositions found in chinoiserie, widely fashionable in Europe and again probably for a European patron (Stephen Markel, '"This Blaze of Wealth and Magnificence": The Luxury Arts of Lucknow', India's Fabled City. The Art of Courtly Lucknow, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles and Paris, 2011, no.93, pp.204-05).