Kashmir Enamelled & Gilded Tea Set & Tray

This tea set comprises a tea pot, a milk jug, a sugar bowl, and a matching tri-lobed tray.

The set has been made from copper, which has been chased with interlaced Arabesques, decorated with dark blue and turquoise enamel, and gilded. The interior of each vessel and the undersides have all been thickly gilded.

Each piece is in the form of a kang, an earthenware vessel with origins in China and used across Asia, including Kashmir, to collect and hold rainwater. Kangs were made to sit on an angle so that ladles could more easily be inserted to scoop out the water.

The handle of each vessel has been shaped as a snake. The spout of the teapot is formed as a zoomorphic head.

Enamelling is the craft of colouring and ornamenting the surface of metal by fusing over it various mineral compounds. There are three main ways in which enamelling can be done – cloissone as was done in China and Japan; champleve enamel as done elsewhere in India; and the painting over the surface of the metal with a silicated fusible paint and then subjecting the item to heat so as to fuse the paint to the surface, as was done in Kashmir. This process called for just the right amount of heat so that the different coloured paints did not run and fuse together.

The set is in fine condition. It is rare to have a complete set now, especially with a matching try. There are minor, age-related losses to some of the enamel.