202. Cutch (Kutch) Tea Set, Style of OM Bhuj

Three Piece Tea Set, in the style of Oomersi Mawji & Sons

This beautifully repoussed tea set comprises a teapot, a sugar bowl and a milk jug. Each is repoussed with scenes of hunting animals and their prey – a dog about to bring down a wild boar, a dog and a deer, and so on – all amid extremely fine scrolling foliage and flowers against a finely tooled background.

The teapot is cast with a bird’s head for a spout, a scorpion with a raised tail as the finial for the lid, and a prominent romanesque hollow-cast handle inset with the original turned ivory heat guards.

An almost identical set (with a coffee pot) is illustrated in Wilkinson, W.,

Indian Silver 1858-1947, about which the author comments: “The high quality of the workmanship and the style employed in the decoration of this set indicates that it originated in the workshop of Oomersi Mawji and Sons. The choice of a scorpion as a finial for the teapot in keeping with the humour often encountered in their work.” Both sets are not signed, but the workmanship is indicative of the OM workshop.Reference

Wilkinson, W., Indian Silver 1858-1947, 1999, p. 85.