A large silver bowl with base, by Grish Chunder Dutt late 19th Century(2)
240
A fine repoussé silver punch-Bowl by Grish Chunder Dutt
Calcutta, late 19th Century
of deep rounded form on a large splayed foot, decorated in repoussé with a frieze of rural scenes including farmers plowing a field, ladies bathing and hunters returning with their spoils, the rim and foot with bands of scrolling floral vines, stamped with maker's mark 'GRISH CHUNDER DUTT, BHOWANIPORE, CALCUTTA', with turned wood stand
22.8 cm. high; 28.8 cm. diam.; 1832 g.(2)
Estimate:
£4,000 - 6,000
€4,700 - 7,100
US$ 6,100 - 9,100

Footnotes

  • Grish Chunder Dutt & Sons were one of the best and most prolific silversmithing concerns working in Bhowanipore, a suburb of Calcutta, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
    Wynyard Wilkinson has suggested that Calcutta's rural theme may have developed as a response to the various international exhibitons being organised in India in the late 19th century. The Calcutta International Exhibition of 1883 saw silver arriving from various regions of India, each with its own distinctive character. The demand thus far had been exclusively for European form and decoration. Silversmiths working in Calcutta and Bhowanipore strongly felt the need to develop a new and distinctive local style. This new form of decoration manifested itself in the form of depictions of the local religious tradition and Bengal village life. This bowl with its rural scenes is a fine example of the latter.
    For further discussion on the Bhowanipore silversmithing tradition, see W.Wilkinson, Indian Silver 1858-1947, London 1999, pp.55-57.

Category: Islamic and Oriental Art / Islamic and Indian Art

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