Bidrisaz
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A maker of bidri or inlaid work in silver on a basis of inferior metal. | A maker of bidri or inlaid work in silver on a basis of inferior metal. | ||
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| + | The name Bidri is derived from Bidar, the ancient capital of the Bahmani Sultans of the Dakhin, formerly noted for its manufactories of this metal. Dr. B. Heyne visited Bidar early this century, and has given the following description of its preparation.1 The ware, he says, contains twenty-four parts of tin and one of copper, joined together by fusion. Its distinctive colour was given by taking and rubbing the metal with equal parts of muriate of ammonia and nitre earth, when a lasting black colour was instantaneously impressed, which, becoming tarnished, could be restored by friction with oil or butter. | ||
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| + | The preparation and subsequent staining of this alloy in Dacca materially differ from the above, and from that given by Buchanan in his account of Puraniya.2 | ||
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| + | The Dacca workman takes one ser of Jasta (zinc), three chhataks of copper and of lead, one and a half chhataks of tin, and one kachcha of cast-iron, puts them into a mud crucible (ghariya). He introduces this into the centre of a charcoal fire kept in a bright glow, and when the outside of the crucible cracks, he is warned that the metals are fused. The liquid mass is then poured into a mould of the desired shape, the surface being smoothed with a file, while with a sharp-pointed burin, or style, the pattern is engraved. Silver is often inlaid on Bidri in the following clumsy way. Thin silver foil being hammered into the grooves, it is firmly imbedded with a blunt iron implement. The surface is then polished with lamb's wool and oil, any excess of oil being got rid of with the ashes of cowdung. | ||
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| + | Bidri is blackened with a preparation composed of one Tola (180 grs.) of muriate of ammonia, one-quarter Tola of alum and of iron, and one-third Tola of sulphate of copper. A solution is applied to the heated Bidri, and on drying the metal is rubbed with a rag. | ||
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| + | The Bidri-Saz of Dacca preserve a tradition that they originally came from Purneah. They are always Muhammadans, manufacturing at the present day, huqqa-stands, bedposts, basins, vessels to contain pan, and water-goglets (curahi). | ||
| + | =Notes= | ||
Latest revision as of 07:02, 12 November 2017
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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[edit] Bidrisaz
A maker of bidri or inlaid work in silver on a basis of inferior metal.
The name Bidri is derived from Bidar, the ancient capital of the Bahmani Sultans of the Dakhin, formerly noted for its manufactories of this metal. Dr. B. Heyne visited Bidar early this century, and has given the following description of its preparation.1 The ware, he says, contains twenty-four parts of tin and one of copper, joined together by fusion. Its distinctive colour was given by taking and rubbing the metal with equal parts of muriate of ammonia and nitre earth, when a lasting black colour was instantaneously impressed, which, becoming tarnished, could be restored by friction with oil or butter.
The preparation and subsequent staining of this alloy in Dacca materially differ from the above, and from that given by Buchanan in his account of Puraniya.2
The Dacca workman takes one ser of Jasta (zinc), three chhataks of copper and of lead, one and a half chhataks of tin, and one kachcha of cast-iron, puts them into a mud crucible (ghariya). He introduces this into the centre of a charcoal fire kept in a bright glow, and when the outside of the crucible cracks, he is warned that the metals are fused. The liquid mass is then poured into a mould of the desired shape, the surface being smoothed with a file, while with a sharp-pointed burin, or style, the pattern is engraved. Silver is often inlaid on Bidri in the following clumsy way. Thin silver foil being hammered into the grooves, it is firmly imbedded with a blunt iron implement. The surface is then polished with lamb's wool and oil, any excess of oil being got rid of with the ashes of cowdung.
Bidri is blackened with a preparation composed of one Tola (180 grs.) of muriate of ammonia, one-quarter Tola of alum and of iron, and one-third Tola of sulphate of copper. A solution is applied to the heated Bidri, and on drying the metal is rubbed with a rag.
The Bidri-Saz of Dacca preserve a tradition that they originally came from Purneah. They are always Muhammadans, manufacturing at the present day, huqqa-stands, bedposts, basins, vessels to contain pan, and water-goglets (curahi).
