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KASHI

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 686 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KASHI , or KAsI, formerly the See also:

Persian word for all glazed and enamelled pottery irrespectively; now the accepted See also:term for certain kinds of enamelled See also:tile-See also:work, including See also:brick-work and tile-See also:mosaic work, manufactured in See also:Persia and parts of See also:Mahommedan See also:India, chiefly during the 16th and 17th centuries.' Undoubtedly originating in the Semitic word for See also:glass, kas, Kashf, the See also:Hindu name for the sacred See also:city of See also:Benares, has no ceramic significance.it is quite possible that the name kashi is immediately derived from See also:Kashan, a See also:town in Persia noted for its See also:faience. This See also:ancient pottery site, in turn, probably receives its name from the old-See also:time See also:industry; as a " city of the See also:plain " it would obviously have no claim to the farther-eastern suffix shan, meaning a See also:mountain. See also:Sir See also:George See also:Birdwood wisely considers that " the See also:art of See also:glazing eathenware has, in Persia, descended in an almost unbroken tradition from the See also:period of the greatness of See also:Chaldaea and See also:Assyria . . . the name has, by which it is known in Arabic and See also:Hebrew, carries us back to the manufacture of glass and enamels for which See also:great See also:Sidon was already famous 15oo years before See also:Christ . . . the designs used in the decoration of See also:Sind and See also:Punjab glazed pottery also go to prove how much these See also:Indian wares have been influenced by Persian examples and the Persian tradition of the much earlier art of See also:Nineveh and See also:Babylon " (The See also:Industrial Arts of India, 1880). The two native names for glass, kanch and shisha, See also:common to Persia and India, are, seemingly, modifications of kashi. The Indian tradition of See also:Chinese potters settling in bygone days at See also:Lahore and See also:Hala respectively, still lingers in the Punjab and Sind provinces, and evidently travelled eastward from Persia with the Moguls. Howbeit in Lahore the name Chfnf is sometimes wrongly applied to kashi work; and the so-called Chfnf-ka-Rauza See also:mausoleum at See also:Agra is an instance of this misuse. It now seems an established fact that a See also:colony of Chinese ceramic experts migrated to See also:Isfahan during the 16th See also:century (probably in the reign, and at the invitation, of Shah Abbas I.), and there helped to revive the jaded pottery industry of that See also:district. Kashi work consisted of two kinds: (a) See also:Enamel-faced tiles and bricks of strongly fired red earthenware, or terra-See also:cotta; (b) Enamel-faced tiles and tesserae of lightly fired " See also:lime-See also:mortar," or See also:sandstone. Tile-mosaic work is described by some authorities as the true kashi. From examination of figured tile-mosaic patterns, it would appear that, in some instances, the shaped tesserae had been cut out of enamelled slabs or tiles after firing; in other examples to have been cut into shape before receiving their facing of coloured enamel.

Mosaic panels in the fort at Lahore are described by J. L. See also:

Kipling as " showing a gul desta., or foliated See also:pattern of a branching See also:tree, each See also:leaf of which is a See also:separate piece of pottery." Conventional representations of foliage, See also:flowers and See also:fruit, intricate geometrical figures, interlacing arabesques, and decorative calligraphy—See also:inscriptions in Arabic and Persian—constitute the See also:ordinary kashi designs. The See also:colours chiefly used were See also:cobalt See also:blue, See also:copper blue (See also:turquoise See also:colour), See also:lead-antimoniate yellow (See also:mustard colour), See also:manganese See also:purple, See also:iron See also:brown and See also:tin See also:white. A colour-See also:scheme, popular with See also:Mogul and contemporary Persian kashigars, was the See also:design, in cobalt blue and copper blue, reserved on a ground of deep mustard yellow. Before applying the enamel colours, the rough See also:face of the tile, or the tesserae, received a thin coating of slip of variable See also:composition. It is probably owing to some defect in this See also:part of the See also:process, or to imperfect firing, that the enamelled tile surfaces on many old buildings, particularly on the See also:south See also:side, have weathered and flaked away. In India the finest examples of kashi work are in the Punjab and Sind provinces. At Lahore, amongst many beautiful structures, the most notable are the See also:mosque of See also:Wazir See also:Khan (A.D. 1634) and the gateways of three famous See also:pleasure gardens, the Shalamar Bagh (A.D. 1637), the Gulabi Bagh (A.D. 1640), and the Charburji (c.

A.D. 1665). At See also:

Tatta the Jami Masjid, built by Shah Jahan (c. A.D. 1645), is a splendid See also:illustration; whilst in that " vast See also:cemetery of six square See also:miles " on the adjacent Malki See also:plateau, are numerous Mahommedan tombs (A.D. 1570–1640) with extraordinary kashi ornamentation. See also:Delhi, See also:Multan, See also:Jullundur, Shandara, Lahore See also:cantonment, Agra and See also:Hyderabad (Sind), all possess excellent monuments of the best period viz. those erected during the reigns of See also:Akbar and See also:Jahangir (A.D. 1556–1b28). In Persia, at Isfahan, Kashan, See also:Meshed and See also:Kerman are a fey buildings and ruins showing the old kashi work; the See also:palace of Chehel Situn in Isfahan, built during the reign of Shah Abbas I. (c. A.D. 1600), is a magnificent specimen of this art.

Occasional revivals of the manufacture have taken See also:

place both in India and Persia. Mahommed Sharif, a See also:potter of Jullundur in the Punjab, reproduced the Mogul enamelled tile-work in 1885, and there is a See also:manuscript See also:record of a certain Ustad See also:Ali Mahommed, of Isfahan, who revived the Persian processes in 1887. (W. B.*; C. S.

End of Article: KASHI

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