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Usta art is the Naqqashi and Manoti art practiced by Usta artisans from the Bikaner district in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan in northern India.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2008) |
Usta art is the Naqqashi and Manoti art practiced by Usta artisans from the Bikaner district in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan in northern India.
The term usta is derived from Persian word ustad or master in a particular art or several arts. During the period of Mughal emperor Akbar. a group of Usta artists came to Bikaner in the royal patronage of Maharaja Rai Singh to perform design work at the famous Junagarh Fort of Bikaner. The craftsmanship and skill of those artists can be seen even today in the Anup Mahal, Phool Mahal and Karan Mahal of Junagarh fort.
Usta art is a broad term which is the combination of many different form of arts and techniques. In current times, most popular form seen is Sunehri Munawwati Nakkashi work which means gold emboss work. This form of art is performed on walls, ceilings, glass, wood, marble and artifacts made of camel leather. On all the mentioned surfaces, very fine work is performed using best quality material. During its origin, all the forms of usta art other than paintings were generally seen on walls but during the British period, a need was felt to perform the usta art on such a material which remains light and easy to carry, so the pots which were made of camel leather and were used to carry oil and fragrance in those times became best alternate for doing gold work on them.
Sunehri Munawwati Nakkashi work or gold emboss work is completed in many stages. Firstly smooth surface is prepared by applying natural primer, then measurement is taken for drawing the designs. The designs are drawn on the surface, then akhbara or first stage of work is done, in this the floral design is filled, using brush and color. When it is dried, the floral design is embossed through brush by using a paste prepared by mixing pot clay powder, gum, jaggery and 'naushadar', on this embossed design a layer of yellow paint is applied and is left to harden-dry again, a coat of the yellow paint is applied and when it is dried, the gold foils are applied and the details of emboss are drawn through very fine brush and design is filled with color. [1] [2]
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.
Bikaner is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located 330 kilometres (205 mi) northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division.
Junagarh Fort is a fort in the city of Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. Raja Dhaj, Ror Kumar, ruled over the principality of Junagarh in the fifth century BC. The fort was originally called Chintamani and was renamed Junagarh or "Old Fort" in the early 20th century when the ruling family moved to Lalgarh Palace outside the fort limits. It is one of the few major forts in Rajasthan which is not built on a hilltop. The modern city of Bikaner has developed around the fort.
The region of Bikaner, stretching across northern Rajasthan State in India, was earlier known as Jangladesh. It included the present-day districts of Bikaner, Churu, Ganganagar, and Hanumangarh. It is bounded on the south by Marwar and Jaisalmer regions, on the east by Ajmer-Merwara region.
Lucy Martin Lewis was a Native American potter from Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico. She is known for her black-on-white decorative ceramics made using traditional techniques.
Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting style that originated in and around the town of Mysore in Karnataka encouraged and nurtured by the Mysore rulers. Painting in Karnataka has a long and illustrious history, tracing its origins back to the Ajanta Caves period. The distinct school of Mysore painting evolved from the paintings during the Vijayanagara Empire period, the rulers of Vijayanagara and their feudatories encouraged literature, art and architecture as well as religious and philosophical discussions. With the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire after the 1565 Battle of Talikota, the artists who were until then under royal patronage migrated to various places such as Mysore, Tanjore and Surpur among others. Absorbing the local artistic traditions and customs, the erstwhile Vijayanagara school of painting gradually evolved into the many styles of painting in South India, including the Mysore and Tanjore schools of painting.
Leather crafting or simply leathercraft is the practice of making leather into craft objects or works of art, using shaping techniques, coloring techniques or both.
Hisam-ud-din Usta was a popular artist born in the erstwhile Bikaner State. Hisam-ud-din was the last formally trained painter in the Bikaner School style/tradition and became a celebrated artisan in the media of Naqqashi and Manoti. Manoti is an embossed medium where gold is layered with painted floral patterns using translucent and opaque oil and watercolours on bronze, wood, gold, silver, plaster of paris, and camel leather. Naqqashi has the same methods as Manoti in its application but the gold is unembossed. These media are proprietary methods practiced only by Usta artisans of Bikaner.
The culture of Rajasthan includes many artistic traditions that reflect the ancient Indian way of life. Rajasthan is also called the "Land of Kings". It has many tourist attractions and facilities for tourists. This historical state of India attracts tourists and vacationers with its rich culture, tradition, heritage and monuments. It also has some wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
Martin Pierce is a wood carver and furniture and hardware designer born in Worcester, England. It was here he began his career as a wood carver, working for businesses and churches in the surrounding area. He has been a resident of Los Angeles since 1980 and, during this period has developed several unique styles of furniture, which include his signature Hedgerow dining chair and Hedgerow bed. Other unique furniture styles include the Ascot and Seicho lines. Many of these pieces are japanned, or gilded, with vines and aspen trees and are part of a limited edition that is both numbered and signed.
Rajasthan is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India, for both domestic and international tourists. Rajasthan attracts tourists for its historical forts, palaces, art and culture with its slogan "Padharo Mhare Desh " Jaipur, is also known as Pink City, is a very popular tourist destination, being the capital of Rajasthan and a part of the Golden Triangle. The Walled City of Jaipur is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is only the second Indian city to be recognized, after Ahmedabad.
Goryeo ware refers to all types of Korean pottery and porcelain produced during the Goryeo dynasty, from 918 to 1392, but most often refers to celadon (greenware).
Parchment craft, also known as Pergamano, is the art of embellishing and decorating parchment paper through the use of techniques such as embossing, perforating, stippling, cutting and coloring.
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.
Mandana paintings are wall and floor paintings of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, India. Mandana are drawn to protect home and hearth, welcome gods into the house and as a mark of celebrations on festive occasions. Meena women in the Hadoti area of Rajasthan possess skill for developing designs of perfect symmetry and accuracy. The art is practised on floors and walls, and the practice is often passed from mother to daughter. The art is much more pronounced and attached to Meena community of Hadoti area. The ground is prepared with cow dung mixed with rati, a local clay, and red ochre. Lime or chalk powder is used for making the motif. Tools employed are a piece of cotton, a tuft of hair, or a rudimentary brush made out of a date stick. The design may show Ganesha, peacocks, women at work, tigers, floral motifs, etc. Such paintings are also called Mandala in most of the parts of Nepal.
The region of Shekhawati in Rajasthan is remarkable for its wealth of mural paintings which adorn the walls of many buildings, including havelis.
Rang Mahal is a village and an ancient Kushan era archaeological site on Suratgarh-Hanumangarh road in Suratgarh tehsil of Sri Ganganagar district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It can be reached from Hanumangarh, Pilibangan, Suratgarh. Suratgarh is the nearest major railway station to Rang mahal village.
Kashmiri papier-mâché is a handicraft of Kashmir that was brought by Muslim saint Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani from Persia in the 14th century to medieval India. It is based primarily on paper pulp, and is a richly decorated, colourful artifact; generally in the form of vases, bowls, or cups, boxes, trays, bases of lamps, and many other small objects. These are made in homes, and workshops, in Srinagar, and other parts of the Kashmir Valley, and are marketed primarily within India, although there is a significant international market. The product is protected under the Geographic Indication Act 1999 of Government of India, and was registered by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks during the period from April 2011 to March 2012 under the title "Kashmir Paper Machie".
Santiniketan Leather Goods are leather products made in Santiniketan and surrounding villages near Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The material used is vegetable tanned leather with art work done by touch dyeing. Its artistic leather bags are popular in foreign markets and are exported to many countries including Japan and the U.S. They are generally made of E. I. Leather from sheepskin and goatskin.
Tazouaqt, also called Zouaq, refers to the art of traditional painting on wood in Morocco. In cities known for Tazouaqt such as Fez, Marrakech and Chefchaouen, wooden works are not considered completed until they are painted. The Tazouaqt remains one of the most assertive characteristics of architectural craftsmanship in Morocco.
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