Thewa Jewellery

This art form evolved about 400 years ago, during the Mughal era when the patronage was at its climax for art and crafts. It is believed that this art had the support of Maharawat Samant Singh of Rajasthan, during the latter half of the 18th century. The small fortified town of Pratapgarh, a district in Rajasthan, is credited as the birthplace of thewa art. Family of Nathu Ji Sonis, who call themselves Raj-Sonis, or specialist thewa craftsmen are credited as originators of this art form.

The legacy of this fine craft is passed from father to son only and not to anyone else, because they fear that this art, which is known only to them, will be revealed to all. Therefore, the technique, tools and usage related to this art were passed on from generation to generation for many years, and not to outsiders.

Traditional Thewa Jewelery

Many members of this family have been awarded by the state and national governments as well as the UNESCO, over the years, for their contribution. Also, to highlight and encourage this art, the government of India issued a special postage stamp in 2004. The government of India also gifted Prince Charles a special thewa gift on his marriage. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Victoria Albert Hall are some of the museums across the world that house art pieces of thewa; many national and state museums are also home to valuable pieces of thewa craft.

In the last century, thewa makers improvised and prepared settings in fine gold wires in the Cannetille style (contemporary European style).

Designer Thewa Jewelery

Making  thewa jewellery is time consuming, detailed and elaborate due to the intricacy and finesse involved. To make a single piece it takes around a month. Shards of terracotta are broken down and are combined with chemicals and oil to prepare a thick paste (a lac-resin compound). This paste is spread on a wooden board and a gold sheet(s) of about 23K purity, of a certain thickness, is set onto this paste. This sheet has a free-hand design etched on it. It is then covered in dark paint such that this free-hand etching is visible, and piercing the sheet with fine cutting tools is possible. Excess gold is removed later.

Thewa Jewelery

The coloured glass, on the other hand, is initially treated to give it a coruscant effect, so that the gold work once fused, looks even more remarkable. Coloured glass (which is the base), onto which a pure gold sheet is fused, is actually a unit.

Thus, each unit consists of a levelled piece of translucent glass, of different shades, some reminiscent of semi-precious stones like sapphire, emerald and ruby. Once the gold foil is mounted onto the base, this unit is again mounted onto a separate silver foil, and is then set into a piece of jewellery or some other item. Different pieces of thewa jewellery come in varied shapes like round, oval, square or rectangular.

Thewa jewellery are items of beautification and adornment, where elaborate geometric and a wide variety of patterns in glistening gold caress in permanence the cool surface of translucent imbued glass.

It not only depicts in its patterns, scenes from Hindu mythology, but also Mughal courtly scenes, hunting scenes and flora and fauna motifs. Hence, the themes are myriad — from historical scenes like that of the battlefield, portraits of rulers, and Krishna playing with gopis, to elephants, lions, dancing peacocks, deers, and fairies, to themes of plants with delicate flowers and leaves. Thewa jewellery is widely available as pendants, earrings, necklaces, rings, hairpins, bracelets, brooches, chokers, lockets, coat-buttons, tunic-buttons, cufflinks and jewellery boxes. These gold-on-glass pieces look like they belong to royalty.

Besides jewellery, thewa art is also used to create exceptional glass decoration items like glass paintings, antique chandeliers, wine glasses, glass coasters and a wide variety of flower vases, flasks, lamp shades and glass photo frames. Floral and myriad patterns are etched on gold foil, which is fused to molten coloured glass moulds, which are basically glass items cast in varied moulds.

Each piece of Thewa art is to be cherished, there can be no assigning of value to the pieces, it can be just said  “This craft of beauty is a joy forever”.

If you want to be notified next time, subscribe to the RSS feed or say hello via Twitter @theotherhome. You can plan your dream holiday with us, visit The Other Home.