Lucknow Silver Lota

Unusual & Large Chased Silver Lota

Lucknow, India

This unusual bowl combines a form associated with tradition Indian brassware – the water vessel or lota – with the colonial silver-smithing motifs associated with Lucknow.

Traditionally,

lotas were designed to hold holy water, often from the Ganges. This example has thick walls and is surprisingly heavy in the hand. Silver was not economised on in its manufacture.

The surface is finely chased with typical Lucknow ‘jungle’ motifs but with additional detail and features not seen on any other published Lucknow piece. There are the usual hunters, elephants and lions but also a cat up a tree, a boar, and a banana palm with bananas. Even the standard Lucknow palms are fruiting are laden with multiple fruit bunches. The inside of the rim is very finely engraved with leaf and floral scrollwork against a tooled ground. Overall, the decoration presents a picture of plenty, fertility and fecundity – all fitting attributes associated with a vessel that hold life-giving ritual water.

This is the first example we have seen of a colonial silver

lota from Lucknow. It is likely that the lota was commissioned. The excessive silver used suggests that the maker was presented with the silver bullion and then asked to use all of it to make the article. It is free of any dents, splits or repairs. The background has been darkened to allow the splendid detail of the chasing work to be seen more clearly.