Blue Pottery of Jaipur: The No-Clay Ceramic Craft

1.1 What is Jaipur Blue Pottery?

It is a ceramic craft of Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is a registered Geographical Indication (GI). A GI tag protects the name of a product that comes from one region.

The registry lists it as application 540, goods class 21 (handicraft).

1.2 Why is it special?

It uses no clay at all. The pieces are painted completely by hand. The craft is Turko-Persian in origin. Jaipur took it up from elsewhere.

2.1 What is the dough made of?

The dough is quartz stone powder, powdered glass, multani mitti, borax, gum and water. Multani mitti is fuller’s earth, a fine natural powder. The GI form says no red clay is used.

The body is a quartz-based ceramic. It is hygienic and suits daily use.

2.2 Why is only one firing needed?

All the materials fire at the same temperature. So one firing bakes and glazes the piece. Clay pottery needs two firings.

2.3 Where do the colours come from?

Blue comes from cobalt oxide. Sources say chrome oxide gives green and cadmium oxide gives yellow. Sources differ on whether copper oxide gives green or turquoise.

3.1 What is the Turko-Persian link?

Some sources say Mongol artisans first developed the blue glaze technique. They joined Chinese glazing with Persian decoration. Some sources say it reached India in the 14th century.

3.2 How did it reach Jaipur?

Under the Mughals it was used for tiles on mosques and tombs. Sources say it came to Jaipur in the 17th century. The GI form says Man Singh I first brought blue-and-white ware to Jaipur.

4.1 What is the kite story?

A popular legend says a Jaipur ruler lost kite fights to two brothers. They had coated their strings with blue-green glass powder. The ruler then took an interest in the craft.

Sources name different rulers and potters. So treat it as a legend, not a dated record.

4.2 Who was Sawai Ram Singh?

He ruled Jaipur from 1835 to 1880. He set up the School of Art at Jaipur in 1866.

4.3 Why did the craft weaken?

The Churaman family kept the art restricted to themselves for generations. The family gradually lost its hold on the craft.

5.1 How close did it come to dying out?

The art had almost vanished by the 1950s. Sources agree on this.

5.2 Who helped the revival?

Maharani Gayatri Devi gave land, a building and patronage. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay of the Handicraft Board gave the finance. The Handicraft Board is part of the Government of India. So the revival had official support.

5.3 Who was Kripal Singh Shekhawat?

He was a painter who is widely recognised as the blue pottery revivalist. He was born in 1922. The training school opened in 1963 as the Sawai Ram Singh Shilp Kala Mandir. He was its first director.

He received the Padma Shri in 1974. He was honoured as a Shilp Guru for ceramics in 2002.

6.1 Which GI facts are tested?

The GI application number is 540 and the class is 21. The applicant is the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts). The certificate is dated 29 April 2017. Sources give other years, so use the registry dates.

6.2 Which facts do students mix up?

• No clay is used. The body is quartz, glass and multani mitti.
• One firing is enough. Clay pottery needs two.
• Cobalt oxide gives blue. Sources differ on copper oxide.
• The technique is Turko-Persian, not native to Rajasthan.
• The 1963 school is not the 1866 School of Art.