Kashmiri enamelware

Kashmiri enamelware is an art form that is virtually unknown to majority of Kashmiris or to art connoisseurs outside Kashmir. I have rarely, if ever, seen a reference to it, even in the many travelogues of the 19th century and books on Kashmir crafts don't even mention it. My first glimpse of this aft form was at the SPS Museum in Kashmir. But I searched enough and was fortunate enough to find a few examples of Kashmiri enamelware, for my collection. 

Like other art forms of Kashmir, enamelware also seems to have been intended for the foreign markets. That's pretty clear from the type of articles that I have found, most of which are only decorative in nature. From its color palette and style of the objects on which it is done, it hints to its origins in Iran and/or Central Asia. Indeed, the distinct shades of blue, so prominent classic in Iranian and Central Asian architecture, are very prominent in Kashmiri enamelware. But here again, rather than simply replicating the motifs of its originators the Kashmiri craftsman incorporates his own distinct design aesthetic in his art form, with the unmistakable shawl pattern, being the most visible. 

Based on my limited exposure and research, the two primary metals used in enamelware are copper and silver, with silver being used for a much finer and nuanced engraving and copper used for less detailed. Gilt is found on most of the articles including as part of the pattern and as a surface layer on the visible, inner surfaces. 

It is safe to date the enamelware in my collection to no later than the end of the 19th century. I am yet to see its presence in the 19th century. Indeed, one of the plaques in my collection has a date of 1881. I must add that though enamelware, as seen in my collection, did indeed die out but a shadow version of this art form continued till the 1970s in the form of enamelwork on gold jewelry. In fact, it was quite popular in the 1970s to have one's name written in enamel on gold rings. Lately, I happened to see an article on Facebook about an elderly craftsman, perhaps the last of his tribe, speaking about the art form. But he was only speaking of it as a decorative element for jewelry, not as the art form, in my collection.