- Title
- Vase
- Date Made
- mid-19th century
- Medium
- Silver with green and red glass insets and incised gold overlay
- Dimensions
- Height: 6 7/8 in. (17.46 cm); Diameter: 3 1/8 in. (8 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2007.132
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This elegant flower vase is fashioned in a distinctive technique termed thewa (setting) involving the fusion of gold foil onto the surface of colored glass. A wide variety of works created in this technique were made in Pratapgarh in southern Rajasthan during the 19th century. The colored glass used in Pratapgarh works is principally green and occasionally red or blue. The delicate chased gold foil decoration typically consists of small iconic tableaux of Hindu mythology, miniature scenes of Europeans or Indians hunting, and animal combat. Much thewa work was intended for Western consumption by European travelers and as export ware for foreign markets.
The hexagonal vase has tapering sides. Each of the faceted sides forms a vertical column of green glass overlaid with four vignettes of incised openwork gold foil compositions. An unusually extensive repertoire of imagery is featured, including themes of Krishna and the cowherdesses (gopis), winged celestials, personification of musical melodies, and scenes of the hunt. The rim has six everted lunettes with red glass insets and gold foil plaques illustrating animal hunting and wildlife. The round pedestal foot made of silver is decorated with lappets and bead molding.
A closely related vase—slightly shorter with only three vignettes per vertical column—is in the National Museum, New Delhi (64.268).