Painstakingly carved and inlaid, the wooden articles of Uttar Pradesh are quite a rave with all lovers of woodcarvings.
Saharanpur here is known for its carvings in hard sheesham and particularly for its famous vine-leaf patterns. The range of designs includes floral, geometric and figurative decoration, in addition. To the traditional anguri and takai carvings, jail (fretted ornamentation), brass, copper and Ivory inlay work. Bone and plastic are now being used as low cost substitutes for Ivory since extracting of Ivory is banned in India.
Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh is also known for its woodwork inlaid with brass wire on ebony or black sheesham. The states of Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala have developed distinctive styles of woodcarvings. Even Rajasthan is noted for its carved sandalwood and rosewood besides heavy ornamental furniture.
Wood Lacquering
Lacquering on wood not only lends color and sparkles to the products, but also smoothen's outs the contours thereby imparting a lustrous finesse.
India is well known for ornamental lacquering involving intricate patterns like zig-zag and dana work, atishi, abri or cloud and nakkash. In Varanasi, a number of lacquered toys and miniature kitchen utensils for children to play with, are made.
Sculptures
The artistic woodcarvings of southern India draws inspiration from the old Indian tradition of worship. Apart from marvelous prototypes of various gods and goddesses, the wall plaques, statues and toys made of rosewood, sandalwood and teakwood are mesmerizing to behold.
Ideal place to shop
Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Sikkim, West Bengal, Karnataka.
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