The Body Adorned

by Vidya Dehejia

"Delight in Design is a richly Illustrated volume that focuses on the remarkable ornamented silverware produced by Indian craftsmen during the period of the British Raj. Silversmiths created elegant silver tea services, bowls, wine and water ewers, beer mugs, and goblets to adorn the sideboard or mantelpiece in a British Raj home, producing European forms fulfilling European requirements. These same silversmiths then adopted a unique manner of embellishing these objects with a variety of different motifs that reflected local taste and carried a recognizably local pattern. A tea service made in Kutch would feature heavily embossed work, perhaps with a wonderful twisted snake as its handle, and a magnificent elephant head where its spout emerged from the pot. If made in Madras, the teapot would be decorated with images of gods being carried in temple processions to the accompaniment of music and dance, giving this ware the designation of Swami (god) silver. If from Calcutta, it would bea