News — India
Tanjore Art - Ancient Roots
Thanjavur has a unique place in the history of Indian painting, in that it houses the 11th century Chola wall paintings in the Brihadeshwara Temple (Periya koyil or Pervudaiyar koyil in Tamil) as also paintings from the Nayak period (many times superimposed on the earlier Chola paintings dating to the 16th century. The fall of the Vijaynagara Empire and the sack of Hampi in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 CE resulted in the migration of painters who had been dependent on the patronage of the empire. Some of them migrated to Thanjavur and worked under the patronage of the Thanjavur Nayakas. Subsequently, the Maratha rulers who defeated the...
Dhokra Lantern - A Picturesque Repesentation
Problems faced by Dhokra Artisans
This art form is widely appreciated and is wooing art lovers across the globe.
But they miss out on having exposure to the change in trends, marketing hence over the years have not been able to achieve a stable position.
They face numerous problems right from procuring raw materials to selling the finished product.
Process of Making Dhokra
Dhokra - Lost wax casting Techniques
Lost Wax Casting is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture is cast from an original sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method. The oldest known example of this technique is a 6,000-year old amulet from the Indus Valley Civilization. Other examples from somewhat later periods are from Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C. The objects discovered in the Cave of the Treasure (Nahal Mishmar) hoard in southern Palestine (region), which belong to the Chalcolithic period (4500–3500 BC). Conservative estimates of age from carbon-14 dating date the items to c. 3700 BC, making them more than 5,700 years old. Lost-wax casting...