ABSTRACT
In a Maze of Lines: The Theory of Design of Jaalis
Vibhuti Sachdev
This is an investigation into the processes of artistic production in late nineteenth and early twentieth century India, through an examination of British patronage and the indigenous knowledge base in the particular case of the design of trellis work. The core material for this study is a number of previously unstudied texts, published at the time by craftsmen and connoisseurs in local Indian languages.
Decorative relief and the pierced jaali or pattern-work is perhaps the most notable hallmark of craft and design in India. It has a significant niche in the export and domestic markets, and is used in a variety of mediums, including stone, metal, cloth and wood. It attracted British patronage in the nineteenth century, when enthusiasts like John Lockwood Kipling, Lockwood de Forest, and T.H. Hendley promoted the craft through exhibitions in Britain and India. Their appreciation of the design of jaalis was through meticulous drawings which formed an important contractual interface between an order and its execution. While the craftsmen carved these designs using highly developed and sophisticated theoretical principles, their British patrons invented other ways of explaining them. Concurrently, some of the craftsmen also wrote books about jaalis, giving their own account of the principles of their geometric construction.