Hookah Water Base

Late 19th century Origin: Kashmir Material: Copper with tin plating Design: Shawl-tarah This jajeer is a particularly striking example of the dialogue between Kashmir's textile and metalworking traditions. Originally forming the lower part of a larger smoking apparatus, its motif is unmistakably related to the decorative vocabulary of the Kashmir shawl. Its decoration does not simply employ the boteh as an isolated motif, but the entire vessel is conceived like the patterned field of a jamawar shawl. Dense floral filling, overlapping curvilinear forms and carefully framed borders create an almost textile-like surface. The unusually extensive shawl-derived ornament makes this example especially significant as a material expression of how Kashmir's celebrated textile designs moved across craft traditions. Photo courtesy: Dancers of Kashmir, 1928. Cowling / Ewing Galloway. Courtesans of India, Huron Research Private collection: Trām and Beyond

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