The Art of Love Marble Inlaid (Marble Inlay, Pietra Dura , Parchinkari)
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| Parchinkari Inlay Art (Marble Inlaid) |
This is study of the INLAY art as it developed in Mughal Architecture, from Humayun to Shah Jehan (c. AD 1535-1658) indigenously, and independent of any extraneous inspiration or influence, landmark examples whereof have been cited with illustrations (64 b&w and 16 colour plates).
It is wrong to brand it: pietra-dura or pietre-dure which misnomer was pasted upon it by nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial historians who suffered by a sense of inherent superiority of European culture and art, and who could not believe that the Indian people, whom Macaulay fondly called 'semi-savage,' could develop such a fine and exquisite art as this, which even the classical Greeks and the Romans, who also worked in marbles, could not do!
It is wrong to brand it: pietra-dura or pietre-dure which misnomer was pasted upon it by nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial historians who suffered by a sense of inherent superiority of European culture and art, and who could not believe that the Indian people, whom Macaulay fondly called 'semi-savage,' could develop such a fine and exquisite art as this, which even the classical Greeks and the Romans, who also worked in marbles, could not do!
Pietra dura is an Italian phrase that means "hard stone," and usually refers to the technique of creating intricate inlaid pictures from shaped colored stones. The stones used are usually silicates, including agates, alabaster, amethyst, jade, jasper, lapis lazuli, malachite, onyx, and topaz.
The craft, developed in antiquity, originally consisted of shaping stones with small saws, wires and other metal instruments and adding them to decorative objects such as vases or small sculptures. The art was revived during the Renaissance by Italian craftsmen and the first hard-stone workshop was established by the Medici family in Florence in 1588. The art was also practiced at the courts of Naples, Madrid, Prague, Paris and elsewhere. From the late 16th century, the colorful stones were arranged on furniture as landscapes and flower scenes.
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| Pietra Dura Source By Google |
INLAY (Pachchikari or Parchinkari) is the distinctive ornamentation of Mughal Architecture as Glazed-tiling (kashikari) was of Iranian Architecture and Glass-mosaic (shishakari) was of Byzantine Architecture. It is also the most distinctive characteristic of the Shahjehanian phase of Mughal Architecture which marks the zenith of this style. A historical appraisal of the evolutionary process of its growth and development, to the elegance of the Taj dados, aptly called the chef d'oeu-vre of Indian art, is absolutely needed for a thorough understanding and appreciation of its originality and creativeness, over and above the misnomers imposed upon it by European authors. @MarbleInlaid
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