Rajasthan which is known as the land of royalty. With its glorious history of Rajputs, endowed with magnificent forts and palaces, invincible architecture, and a lot more.
Due to hostile desert environments and continuous warfare, the people started to invest in Gold and jewellery to secure their future.
The warrior clan of the Rajputs made lavish use of the jewellery encrusted weapons that signified the sanctity of their caste.
Kundan stone Jadau work began to rise as the artists crafted the art of embedding stones and metals on the surface of objects.
This technique required the use of gold foil leaves to be inserted between the walls and precious and semiprecious stones like diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and tourmalines.
The silver or gold foil placed below the surface enabled greater reflection of light through the stone. Having said that, this permitted the stone to highlight the brilliance and natural sheen.
Kundan Stone Work:
[Image Courtesy: Sneha Rateria]
Another form of jewellery trend is Meenakari, which involves the fusion of colored stones like copper oxide for green and cobalt oxide for blue to suggest precious stone inlay work inspired by the royal patronage of cultural heritage.
The Technique Of Kundan & Meenakari Stonework
This technique was brought on the behest of Raja Man Singh.
One of the most exquisite crafts that involve kundanJadai work with meenakari employing the use of marble is still practiced by the remote Jangid community in the interiors of Kemla, a small village in the state of Rajasthan.
White marbles serve as the versatile surface of the stone, preferably used for the sculptures and jewellery making, its softness, homogeneity, and resistance to shattering enable marble to be used for crafting finer details and aesthetics.
Some pieces of marble are so big and lofty that they are transported using the chains mounted on the ceiling and are cut using the diamond blade marble cutters.
[Image Courtesy: Gaatha]
The electric lathe is used to turn the marble into the desired shape and form by employing specific design and details on its surface.
A power drill is used to carve big holes in vases and hookas. The artists sculpt the exterior of the marble surface with freehand using a pencil, a ruler, and paraphernalia.
Motifs usually consist of flowers, petals, leaves, animals, and portraits, etc. The motifs are embossed by brush application of a mixture of village sands and glue.
Once dry, pencil lines are erased, and a coat of yellow paint is mixed with varnish to design.
Gold leaves or extremely thin sheets of gold, known as “Varak”, are pressed on to painted motifs.
As the paint is not completely dry, varak gentle sticks to the design until it is removed.
The gilded patterns of gold are intricately brushed with strokes of fine art.
[Image Courtesy: YouTube]
Imitation gemstones and colored stones called “Nagina” are immaculately fixated to the motifs and enhance the beauty of the precise artwork. A final coat of glitter seals the elements together and gleam exotic details.
