2000.406 Hookah base | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

A hookah is a water pipe used for smoking tobacco or other narcotics. This hookah base is made in the bidri technique, originating in central India. The process of creating Bidri ware occurs in several steps. First, pieces of precious metal are inlaid into the zinc surface. Once the inlay is complete, the entire piece is blackened by applying a chemical paste that affects the zinc but not the inlay. The result, after the paste is removed, is brightly shining inlay that stands in contrast to the deep black of the zinc. Finally the entire piece is rubbed with oil to enhance the blackness of the zinc. Here gold has been used, making this piece very valuable, but more often silver is used for inlay. In some rare instances combinations of gold and silver tones are employed.

Adapted from

DMA Label text.
Catherine Asher, "Hookah base," in The Arts of India, South East Asia, and the Himalayas, Anne R. Bromberg (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 120.

NOTES

Catalogue essays

Hookah base

The Arts of India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas at the Dallas Museum of Art

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography

Process/materials

Historical periods

Mughal (1526-1858)

Individuals

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apply to objects where number equals 2000.406

General Description

A hookah is a water pipe used for smoking tobacco or other narcotics. This hookah base is made in the bidri technique, originating in central India. The process of creating Bidri ware occurs in several steps. First, pieces of precious metal are inlaid into the zinc surface. Once the inlay is complete, the entire piece is blackened by applying a chemical paste that affects the zinc but not the inlay. The result, after the paste is removed, is brightly shining inlay that stands in contrast to the deep black of the zinc. Finally the entire piece is rubbed with oil to enhance the blackness of the zinc. Here gold has been used, making this piece very valuable, but more often silver is used for inlay. In some rare instances combinations of gold and silver tones are employed.