Bidri Hookah Bowl with Roses
c. 1650s
Maker Unknown
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Bidri Hookah Bowl with Roses, c. 1650s. Southwestern India, Deccan, Karnataka, Bidar. Zinc alloy with silver and brass inlay; diameter: 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.); height: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2020.207 Hookah bowls were used for the enjoyment of tobacco or any other smoked substance during moments of relaxation. They were also aesthetic objects to be admired in elite gatherings of connoisseurs. The flowering rose bushes on this fine early example, made shortly after the introduction of tobacco-smoking in India, would have called to mind celebrated poetical works, such as the Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Sa'di (Persian, 1210–1291 or 1292). Bidri ware is cast from condensed vapors of zinc mined from Sawar in Rajasthan.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Formatted Medium
- Zinc alloy with silver and brass inlay
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.); height: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.)
- Departments
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Accession Number
- 2020.207
- Credit Line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Exhibitions
- Life and Exploits of Krishna in Indian Paintings (Indian art rotation), <em>Life at court: art for India's rulers, 16th-19th centuries. </em>Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (November 20, 1985-February 9, 1986).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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