Fine Indian Gold-Damascened Koftgari Steel Bottle and Stopper

#18387: Fine Indian Gold-Damascened Koftgari Steel Bottle and Stopper
Indian, 19th century
Height 31cm, width 14cm, depth 14cm

This nineteenth-century steel surahi was made in Sialkot, a Punjab town known for its koftgari work. The technique involves cross-hatching a steel ground, hammering gold wire into the roughened surface and burnishing it flush, producing a design that sits within the metal rather than upon it. Sialkot craftsmen applied it to arms and armour as well as to vessels and caskets of this kind, and their output was shown at the international exhibitions of the later nineteenth century.
The body is of compressed globular form, rising from a splayed foot to a long, slightly flaring neck fitted with a domed stopper and bud finial. The surface is decorated throughout in gold overlay with a lattice of split palmettes, each compartment filled with dense foliate interlace and scrolling tendrils. Narrow bands of rope and bead ornament mark the shoulder, the collar and the mouth, while the foot carries a chevron design.
The deep brown steel ground is set against the warm tone of the gold, and the drawing is carried out at a small scale throughout. A casket with closely comparable decoration is held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
$14,250