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Thewa is a special art of jewelry making which involves fusing of intricately worked-out sheet gold on molten glass. It evolved in Pratapgarh district, Rajasthan India. Its origin dates back to the rajput era. [1]
Thewa is a traditional art of fusing 23K Gold with multicoloured glass which had totallyy died out, till famed celebrity jewellery designer Roopa Vohra single handedly dedicated two decades and breathed life into this art form. The glass is treated by a special process to have glittering effects, which in turn highlights the intricate gold work. The whole Thewa piece is hand crafted over a period of one month by skilled artisans. Thewa, an art that pulsates with life, caught seemingly in movement, in motifs used on jewellery, which shows the culture, heritage and tales of romance and valour of Rajasthan with nature and happiness depicting the art of the fine craftsmanship. The process of making thewa work is detailed; time consuming and intricate, taking up to a month to complete each piece. It starts with broken pieces of terracotta, finely ground, mixed with chemicals and oil to produce a thick paste. The paste spread on a wooden base has a 23carat gold sheet of 40gauge thickness set onto the mixture and the free hand design etched on it. Black paint spread over the gold sheet that highlights the design so it becomes clearly visible for further detailed work with fine tools. The craftsman removes the excess gold creating a design often based on the Hindu mythology or Mughal court scenes, historical events or with flora and fauna motifs.
Nathu ji Soni invented the process in 1767; the secrets of the craft that passed directly from father to son over the generations remains it in the family only, who call themselves 'Raj-Sonis’. Many of the members from this family have been awarded by UNESCO, National & State Government. Some of the finest examples of this unique form of decorative art are in local museum collections in India as well as abroad including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert.
Other Origin: THEWA is a word from the local Rajasthani language which literally means “SETTING”. Thewa is an art of fusing 23ct gold with multicoloured glass. It is a very detailed and intricate process. A 23ct gold piece is first beaten into a very thin sheet. Intricate designs are inscribed onto these gold sheets using very fine chisel. This gold sheet, called as “Thewa Ki Patti” is fixed to a lac-resin compound spread on a board by slightly warming the lac and then pressing the gold sheet onto it. An open work pattern is pierced thru these gold sheets placed on the lac-resin covered board by knocking off the portions which ultimately creates the intricate design. The gold sheet is gently peeled off by heating it.
Like the rest of Rajasthan handicrafts, the glass works of Pratapgarh are unique in both design and usage. Besides beautiful and traditional items such as handicraft items, glass photo frames, trays, glass art ware, glass jewelry boxes, lamp shades, flower vases, crystal wine glasses, flasks, glass pots, antique crystal chandeliers, glass coasters, glass lamp shades and glass paintings, Pratapgarh is renowned for its Thewa work. Colored glass base, embossed with golden miniature artwork is the special attraction of the Thewa work. Floral patterns are etched on gold foil and superimposed on glass moulds and the glassware is cast in such moulds. Thewa pendants are famous pieces of jewelry and their blazing hues and exquisite patterns attract women across the world.
Ramprasad rajsoni is first awardee in the thewa-kala for his master-craftmanship in 1966. Like many others of the local craftsmen,Jagdish Lal Raj Soni, Beni Ram Soni,Girish Rajsoni craftspersons from Pratapgarh in Rajasthan state in India were also awarded Shilp Guru Award for Thewa art.
Recently one craftsman Mahesh Raj Soni of the traditional artisan family has won another national award and Padma Shree 2015 for his excellent Thewa handicraft and with this his family has been featured in the LIMCA yearbook 2011 as "Eight national awards in one family". [2] Hitesh RajSoni (2004), Girish Rajsoni have been awarded by "UNESCO Seal of Excellence Award". They are among the youngest personalities in Rajsoni Family who got this Award.
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one's hand or by using only simple, non-automated related tools like scissors, carving implements, or hooks. It is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid materials, paper, plant fibers, clay, etc. One of the oldest handicraft is Dhokra; this is a sort of metal casting that has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used. In Iranian Baluchistan, women still make red ware hand-made pottery with dotted ornaments, much similar to the 5,000-year-old pottery tradition of Kalpurgan, an archaeological site near the village. Usually, the term is applied to traditional techniques of creating items that are both practical and aesthetic. Handicraft industries are those that produce things with hands to meet the needs of the people in their locality without using machines.
Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C. The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word vitreous comes from the Latin vitreus, meaning "glassy".
Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal, wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was traditionally silver in the West, to make silver-gilt objects, but gilt-bronze is commonly used in China, and also called ormolu if it is Western. Methods of gilding include hand application and gluing, typically of gold leaf, chemical gilding, and electroplating, the last also called gold plating. Parcel-gilt objects are only gilded over part of their surfaces. This may mean that all of the inside, and none of the outside, of a chalice or similar vessel is gilded, or that patterns or images are made up by using a combination of gilt and ungilted areas.
Handmade jewelry/jewellery, or handcrafted jewelry/jewellery, is jewelry that has been assembled and formed by hand rather than through the use of machines.
Jagdish Lal Raj Soni is a well known craftperson from Pratapgarh in Rajasthan state in India. He was awarded Shilp Guru Award in 2002 for Thewa art.
Mohanlal Chaturbhuj Kumhar is an artisan of Rajasthan. He won the Shilp Guru award in 2003 for his skills in terracotta sculpture. Born in 1939 he is resident of Nathdwara. In 23rd Surajkund Crafts Mela. Mohan Lal Chaturbhuj of Rajasthan was also awarded the Kalamani for his works in terracotta. He has participated in promoting this traditional art in various countries like Spain, USA and Australia. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2012.
Beni Ram Soni was the 2002 winner of the Shilp Guru award for thewa and gold filigree on glass. He is from Pratapgarh, Rajasthan, India.
Bidriware is a metal handicraft from the city of Bidar in Karnataka. It was developed in the 14th century C.E. during the rule of the Bahmani Sultans. The term "bidriware" originates from the township of Bidar, which is still the chief center of production. The metal used is white brass that is blackened and inlaid with silver. This native art form has obtained Geographical Indications (GI) registry on 03/01/2006.
Mary Lee Hu is an American artist, goldsmith, and college level educator known for using textile techniques to create intricate woven wire jewelry.
Pratapgarh district is the 33rd district of Rajasthan, created on 26 January 2008. It is a part of Udaipur Division and has been carved out from the erstwhile tehsils of Chittorgarh, Udaipur and Banswara districts. Pratapgarh town is the administrative headquarters of the district.
Kundan, meaning pure gold, is a traditional form of Indian gemstone jewellery involving a gem set with a gold foil between the stones and its mount, usually for elaborate necklaces and other jewellery.
The crafts of India are diverse, rich in history, culture and religion. The craft of each state in India reflect the influence of different empires. Throughout centuries, crafts have been embedded as a culture and tradition within rural communities.
The Middle Ages was a period that spanned approximately 1000 years and is normally restricted to Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The material remains we have from that time, including jewelry, can vary greatly depending on the place and time of their creation, especially as Christianity discouraged the burial of jewellery as grave goods, except for royalty and important clerics, who were often buried in their best clothes and wearing jewels. The main material used for jewellery design in antiquity and leading into the Middle Ages was gold. Many different techniques were used to create working surfaces and add decoration to those surfaces to produce the jewellery, including soldering, plating and gilding, repoussé, chasing, inlay, enamelling, filigree and granulation, stamping, striking and casting. Major stylistic phases include barbarian, Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian, Viking, and the Late Middle Ages, when Western European styles became relatively similar.
Traditional metal working in Mexico dates from the Mesoamerican period with metals such as gold, silver and copper. Other metals were mined and worked starting in the colonial period. The working of gold and silver, especially for jewelry, initially declined after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. However, during the colonial period, the working of metals rose again and took on much of the character traditional goods still have. Today, important metal products include those from silver, gold, copper, iron, tin and more made into jewelry, household objects, furniture, pots, decorative objects, toys and more. Important metal working centers include Taxco for silver, Santa Clara del Cobre for copper, Celaya for tin and Zacatecas for wrought iron.
John Paul Miller was an American jewellery designer and goldsmith, who also produced films, photographs and paintings. Stephen Harrison, decorative arts curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art, compares Miller's work with that of René Lalique and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Mahesh Raj Soni is an Indian craftsman specialising in the traditional art of Thewa, a Rajasthani jewellery making tradition using glass and gold leaves and is one of the surviving exponents of the art form which has roots in Pratapgarh, Rajasthan. He is a member of Rajasthan Thewa Kala Sansthan and has featured in the Limca Book of World Records in its 2011 edition. Soni, who is a cancer survivor, was honoured by the Government of India in 2015 with Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
Gopal Prasad Sharma is an internationally recognised Indian artist associated with the traditional miniature art of Rajasthan.
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Girish Rajsoni was the 2015 winner of the Shilp Guru award for thewa and gold filigree on glass. He is from Pratapgarh, Rajasthan, India.
Minakari or Meenakari is the process of painting and colouring the surfaces of metals and ceramic tiles through enameling, originating in Safavid Iran. It is practiced as an art form, and commercially produced mainly in Iran, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Minakari art usually involves intricate designs, and is applied as a decorative feature to serving dishes, containers, vases, frames, display ornaments, and jewelry.