The history of Mughal glass emerges from the shadows

Mughal Glass: A History of Glassmaking in India is a multi-layered book. Published by Roli Books, it presents the evolution of luxurious glass objects—huqqa bases, bottles and dishes—prevalent during the Mughal period (1526-1858) within broader political and socioeconomic scenarios. Tangled histories between Europe and the Indian subcontinent, changing maritime trade routes, the Mughal fascination for luxury goods and the impact of colonialism come together in this comprehensive catalogue by Tara Desjardins, curator of South Asia at the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha. But there is one another factor that makes this book significant: While there has been scholarly work on painting and architecture created during the reign of the Mughals, the history of Mughal glass has been neglected, and this new piece of literature hopes to rectify that.

In one of the introductory chapters, New Explorations, Julia Gonnella, director, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, states that the scholarship pertaining to Islamic glass has been disproportionately preoccupied with glasswork from either the early Islamic period or, even more so, from the medieval times dealing with the gilded and enamelled specimens of Ayyubid and Mamluk Syria and Egypt (12-14th centuries), which greatly contributed to the Venetian glass industry. Glass from later Islamic periods—the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal—has lacked “comprehensive scholarly investigation, despite the glass industry playing an overriding role in all these countries. In this regard, Desjardins’ endeavor admirably addresses a conspicuous and multifaceted lacuna in the scholarly landscape,” she writes.

Interestingly, Desjardins’s engagement with Mughal glass has roots in this very lacuna. Ten years ago, while working as a specialist of Islamic art at the French auction house, Tajan, she came across a globular glass huqqa base, which was supposedly of Indian origin. At that time, with very little scholarly material available for reference, it became difficult to determine the object’s authenticity. That led her to delve deep into this field and travel across the world, in search of such objects, with Desjardins making Mughal glass a subject of her decade-long research project and doctoral thesis. Over time, she has carried out scientific studies and chemical analyses, scouted for primary accounts and archival records—all material that has resulted in this book. “Its dual purpose is to establish a coherent literature where none existed before and to craft a comprehensive catalog of objects,” she writes in the introduction.

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In an article on the book published in The Hindu in July, Deepthi Sasidharan, founder-director, Eka Archiving Services, notes that earlier books such as Mark Zebrowski’s Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India brought ewers, huqqas and paandans into the popular imagination, even as he painstakingly referenced these utility items from miniature paintings to show how they were used. “That didactic approach widened the ability to look at historical objects, and Mughal Glass for the first time, expands our view on decorative glassmaking for luxury utilitarian objects,” she writes.

In Mughal Glass, Desjardins has looked at two kinds of histories, one of glass-making and experimentation with glass recipes itself, and the other of the sociopolitical shifts in Mughal India between the 17th and 19th centuries. “Both histories develop in parallel until they collide at precisely the point where the development of new glass mixtures, the importation of foreign goods, and increase in European hegemony in India intersects with decline in Mughal power, the rise in concentrated wealth circulating around autonomous courts, and the development of new class of wealthy individuals eager to commission and consumer glass,” writes Desjardins.

The book looks at glass imports from European countries to India, brought by Portuguese, Dutch and English traders, and the objects made across the subcontinent itself. There are very few primary sources for the author to refer to. Some of them include the Ain-e-Akbari, India office records from the 18th century, which refer to import of English glass, and the British Industrial Survey of 1807 that mentions use of recycled European glass in manufacture of blown glass vessels in Patna. But these sources are far and few, and lack many details. For Desjardins, most of the information comes from chemical analysis and scientific studies. Based on this and the social function of the objects, she has divided the catalogue into three categories—bottles, huqqa bases and dishes. While no two objects are identical, they have been grouped according to similarities in shape, colour and decorative style.

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But how does one differentiate between the European imports to India, and the glass from the subcontinent that made its way abroad? “Handling and examining these objects has allowed me to identify key technical and decorative differences, aiding in distinguishing between European and Indian manufacture, as well as historic and recent creations,” writes Desjardins. The differences come to fore, particularly, in the huqqas. The subtle ridge or indentation in the huqqa’s neck— a probable result of the tooling process—stands as a technical feature on all Indian manufactured huqqa bases. She mentions that the final difference lies in decoration, and that huqqa bases attributed to European manufacture in this Catalogue feature one of the three decorative techniques: ribbed, ‘nip’t diamond waies’, and diamond-engraved. The first two are traditionally linked to English glassmaker George Ravenscroft and his followers, who were known for a lead glass mixture.

One of the most fascinating sections is on the intersection of glass making and painting—and how the decorative style and image on some of the objects were inspired by the various schools of painting. Take, for instance, the flower, when depicted as a solitary spray, harks back to the classic Mughal motif from Emperor Akbar’s reign. Desjardins mentions how this transformed into a highly naturalistic form during Jahangir’s rule, influenced by detailed floral studies executed by the court painter, Ustad Mansur in 1616. One can see objects influenced by the depiction of Ragamala paintings across courts in India. “The Todi Ragini, for example, represents one raga which appears on several bottles: a single woman standing on one leg, grasping a tree branch, accompanied by a black buck,” elaborates Desjardins.

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Packed with such interesting details, Mughal Glass becomes a repository not just for scholars but also art enthusiasts and aspiring collectors looking for credible information on such a niche subject.