Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/132

 p. 139 — “were formed by filing pieces of mother of pearl to the required size, and letting them into the pattern cut in the block of wood. The more elaborate designs were, with frag- ments of different colored mother of pearl, worked into cement, and laid on the surface to be ornamented. Of the coarser and commoner kinds of inlaying a little is still used for the frames of tamburas, rubabs , and other guitars and violins. No one now practises the former kinds of inlaying, and only one man supports himself by inlaying musical instruments.”

I was not aware of the existence of any remains of this beau- tiful art in India until I read Mr. Lely’s report : and I trust that a successful effort may now be made, through the patronage of the South Kensington Museum Department, to revive it.

Mr. J. L. Kipling also, in the Lahore Guide, 1876, says that “ at Hushiarpur” [in the Panjab] “ is practised a variety of the ancient Persian craft of inlaying dark wood w r ith ivory. The certosina work of Italy is similar.”

Vizagapatam Work.

Vizagapatam work, in ivory, bison and stag horn, and por- cupine quills, is applied to the same class of articles as Bombay inlaying, namely, work-boxes, tea-caddies, desks, chess-boards, and a variety of fancy articles. It is of a very recent origin, and the etching in black, sgraffito, on the ivory, is exclusively of European flower forms, represented naturally, in light and shade. The effect is seldom pleasing.

Mynpuri Work.

In Mynpuri work, which is analogous to buhl-work, we find boxes and platters of a rich brown wood inlaid with brass wiie in various geometrical and scroll patterns. Sir John Strachey, who has given great encouragement to this local industry, ex- hibited several examples of it at Paris. It is curiously like the wood inlaid with wire seen in Morocco, and it would be interesting