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Crafts / Blue Pottery

Blue Pottery

State
Rajasthan
Material
Quartz powder · Glaze
Rarity
Popular

Pottery made without a speck of clay

About

Jaipur's cobalt-blue glazed pieces, painted with flowers and birds and made from quartz, glass and fuller's earth instead of clay.

Blue pottery is a craft of Jaipur in Rajasthan, named for the cobalt blue that colours it. Its main surprise is that it contains no clay. Instead the body is made from quartz stone powder, powdered glass, multani mitti (fuller's earth), borax and gum, mixed with water into a dough. This material is related to fritware, a family of glazed ceramics known from Islamic pottery.

The pieces are hand-painted by artisans, mostly with floral patterns, birds, animals and geometric borders in blue, with green from copper oxide and white. It is made mainly in Jaipur and in nearby places such as Sanganer, Mahalan and Neota.

Blue pottery is mostly decorative: vases, plates, bowls, trays, coasters, soap dishes, small pitchers (surahi), door knobs and glazed tiles. It is fired at a low temperature, which makes it fragile, but the glazed surface is impervious and easy to clean.

How it’s made

Blue pottery is made through a long sequence of steps. The dough is made by kneading quartz powder, powdered glass, multani mitti, borax and gum with water. It is rolled out into a thin sheet, about four to five millimetres thick, and pressed into plaster moulds. After a day or two the shaped piece is lifted out and left to dry, and then it is cleaned, shaped and rubbed smooth with sandpaper. Round pieces can be turned while the painter holds the brush against them.

The smooth surface is painted by hand with designs, usually in cobalt oxide blue, copper oxide green and white. Once painted, the piece is given a final coat of glaze, which fuses into a hard, glossy surface when fired.

The finished piece is fired just once, at a low temperature, in a kiln. Because it has no clay, the body is hard and brittle, and pieces can crack or warp if the drying or firing is not exact. This makes the craft slow and risky, and it takes years of practice to master.

Key features

  • No clay: body made of quartz powder, powdered glass, fuller's earth, borax and gum
  • Cobalt blue, copper-oxide green and white palette
  • Hand-painted flowers, birds, animals and geometric borders
  • Moulded in plaster moulds, then glazed and fired once at low temperature
  • Impervious glazed surface, easy to clean but fragile
  • Made mainly in Jaipur and nearby Sanganer, Mahalan and Neota

History

Blue-glazed ceramics in India are linked to Persian and Central Asian tilework. The blue glaze technique is said to have travelled east with the Turkic conquests, first used on tiles for mosques, tombs and palaces, and then taken up in India by the Mughals; it later reached Delhi and Jaipur. Accounts differ on the date: one places it in Jaipur in the seventeenth century, another in the nineteenth century under Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II (1835-1880), who is said to have sent local craftsmen to Delhi to learn the craft and supported it at Jaipur's school of art.

In Jaipur the craft took on its own character. Artists added designs from local life, such as Indian animals, birds, flowers and elements of palaces, to the Persian-style patterns. Blue pottery was shown at the 1883 exhibition of industrial arts held under Sawai Madho Singh II, whose collections formed the beginning of the Albert Hall Museum.

By the 1950s the craft had nearly disappeared from Jaipur. It was revived through the efforts of the painter Kripal Singh Shekhawat, with the support of patrons such as Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Rajmata Gayatri Devi. Today it is a source of livelihood for many in Jaipur, and it carries the traditional blue colour and motifs that make it instantly recognisable.

Facts

  • No clay A clay-free body. The dough is made from quartz stone powder, powdered glass, multani mitti (fuller's earth), borax, gum and water, with no clay in it.
  • Fired once A single low firing. Unlike most pottery, a blue pottery piece is painted, glazed and fired only once, and at a low temperature, which is why it is fragile.
  • Cobalt & copper Colours from metal oxides. The blue comes from cobalt oxide and the green from copper oxide, with white as the third colour of the traditional palette.
  • 1950s revival Almost lost, then revived. By the 1950s blue pottery had nearly vanished from Jaipur. The painter Kripal Singh Shekhawat revived it with the support of patrons such as Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Rajmata Gayatri Devi.

Market

Decor and gifts from Jaipur

Blue pottery is sold as vases, plates, bowls, trays, coasters, tiles, door knobs and showpieces, mostly in Jaipur's markets and in craft shops across India. It is decorative rather than rugged, so it is sold as gift and home-decor items. Machine-made look-alikes exist; hand-painted work shows small variations in the brushwork.

Sustainability

Low firing, long-lasting glaze

Blue pottery is fired at a lower temperature than many ceramics and uses powdered quartz and glass, so it avoids digging clay, though the kilns still use energy. Because it is fragile, it lasts longest as a decorative or lightly used piece.

Products

  • Vases and flower pots: The best-known blue pottery pieces
  • Plates, bowls and trays: Decorative and light-use tableware
  • Coasters and soap dishes: Small household pieces
  • Surahi (small pitcher): A traditional water-pitcher shape, now mostly decorative
  • Glazed tiles and door knobs: Architectural pieces hand-painted with floral designs

Words to know

  • Frit: A glass-like material made by melting and grinding; blue pottery's body is related to fritware.
  • Multani mitti: Fuller's earth, a fine mineral clay-like powder used in the dough.
  • Cobalt oxide: The mineral that gives blue pottery its blue colour.
  • Saaji: A soda-based ingredient mentioned in some accounts of the dough.
  • Surahi: A narrow-necked small pitcher.

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