Inventory no.: 592

592

SOLD

Silver Belt Buckle & Holder signed ‘OM BHUJ’

Cutch, India, 1860-90

length of buckle: 10.5cm; width of buckle: 6.5cm

Items of silverwork by the Cutch firm Oomersi Mawji & Sons have become the most sought after items of Indian colonial silver. Rarely are belt buckles by this firm encountered.

This example, cast in a leafy rococo style with four bearded male heads is stamped on the reverse with ‘OM BHUJ’ using a well cut ‘cameo’ punch. (Bhuj is the name of the town in Cutch where the firm was based.) Wynyard Wilkinson (1999: 90) comments that such stamp marks are associated with earlier pieces of the firm’s work, from around 1860-90 and may well have been associated with Oomersi Mawji himself. Wilkinson also opines (p. 69) that “Oomersi Mawji was the best silversmith of nineteenth century India. His understanding and use of Cutch decorative techniques and the combination of fine silversmithing and exemplary decoration made the products of his workshop highly prized.””

The buckle is accompanied by a rectangular belt holder decorated in a typically Cutch manner.

References

Wilkinson, W.,

Indian Silver 1858-1947, 1999.

Inventory no.: 592

SOLD