A rare large repoussé copper panel

Amritsar, Punjab, late 19th Century

Footnotes

Provenance
Formerly in the collection of Robert and Lyndsay Brydon, Edinburgh. Robert Brydon (1930-2014) was an historian and collector.

For an identical panel, the upper section of a hammered copper and wood door panel, made in Amritsar, circa 1886, in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.121-1886), see J. Bryant, S. Weber (edd.), John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London, 2017, p. 257, fig. 9.67. It was purchased from the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1885 for the then South Kensington Museum, and was produced by craftsmen of the Golden Temple at Amritsar.

A large gilt-copper panel, depicting the Sikh saint Mohanji surrounded by devotees is in a private US collection (see Madra and Singh, The Golden Temple of Amritsar: reflections of the past (1808-1959), fig. 159.

Copper repousse-work artisans worked in the grounds of the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, producing panels for temples and other buildings. They would also sell them to pilgrims and other visitors. The floral motifs were heavily influenced by the earlier Mughal aesthetic that can be seen most notably particular in the marble and stone work of the Taj Mahal. Indeed, descendants of some of the craftsmen who had worked on Mughal buildings began working on the architecture of the Punjab. In this case, they imitate the gilt-copper panels on the upper levels of the Golden Temple.

Maharajah Ranjit Singh founded the nucleus of the Sikh Empire at the age of 36 with help of the Sukerchakia Misl forces which he inherited from his mother-in-law Rani Sada Kaur. In 1802, at age twenty-two, he took Amritsar from the Bhangi Sikh misl and went on to pay homage at the Golden Temple, announcing that he would renovate and rebuild it with marble and gold. The Temple was renovated in marble and copper in 1809, and in 1830 Ranjit Singh donated gold to overlay the sanctum with gold foil. Many of the palaces (Bungas) surrounding the Golden Temple were also owned by the courtiers and generals, in particular Raja Sher Singh, Kharak Singh and Nau Nihal Singh. These palaces and nearby temples were decorated by the best artisans available in Amritsar, and murals and mirror-work adorned the walls including examples like this copper panel. For a general survey, with illustrations, of the building and later enrichment of the Golden Temple, see P. Singh, 'The Golden Temple', in S. Stronge (ed.), The Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms, London 1999, pp. 47-59 (see in particular fig. 58, a close-up view of the golden upper storey of the Harmandir).

In his entry for 'Repousse Work in Copper', in the section on 'Industries of the Punjab: Amritsar' in The Journal of Indian Art, Lockwood Kipling wrote: 'Modern examples may be considered cheap, a large copper panel of 2 feet 6 inches square, covered with finely executed foliage in relief, costing, without gilding, Rs.24. The coppersmiths do not confine themselves to working for the temple, but make finials and similar details for other places'.