The Ancient Land CHAD and its art forms

As old as several million years, find its existence since BC has always been place of interest during pre-historic time.

Do not get surprised…………………….. What I am offering today is a form of art which is very historic and in present 21^st century also, we find the smell of pre-history.

Today’s interesting topics are

• ·       Cave wall paintings
• ·       Clay pottery made without potters wheels
• ·       Basketry weave work
• ·       Stencil painting    

                 

   Chad Location and Origin

   

       Chad with its existing capital N’Djamena (Chari-Baguirmi), got its sovereignty from France in 1960, with its official language French, surrounded with 6 countries: Libya, Sudan, Niger, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria; enhances its beauty with Sahara dessert.

         Occupying huge land area of 1,284,000 square kilometer with very less population of 10,975,648; approx. density of 9 people per square kilometer.

     

"All water in Pre-history and All Sand now” is the right proverb to denote Chad.

               

        Art forms from Pre-historic Chad

   "A state  not developed but only shown existence, yet idiosyncratic”.

    12,000 to 9,000 to 4000 BC, witnesses here the existence of initial sense of aesthetics development of art forms.

         A belt of at Ennedi Mountains, sandstone plateau spread across 35,000 square Kilometers is rich    with rock art.

I            It dates back to 2000 and more recent to it. 

   All these rock art are the good devotion of aesthetics while using lines to make outer drawings and natural colours to fill it.

   The use of geometric lines to fill the space and the combinations of using the colours and the lines takes the drawing to appreciable world. 

    Motifs were all taken from surroundings and hence horses, hunting, dancing, merry making, celebrations, bulls, plants, horse riding, and cattle in human shelters. 

    The rock paintings, familiars to a way of depiction of images by a child, in the state of absence to enjoy and depict what they see around, shows the very initial and innocent stage of art forms, which are pure and pious. 

    And these such art forms we see at rock art. 

     Chad : Present Day art forms.      

    It   may be categorized in two categories.

         Functional Art: Baskets, clay pots, woven fans.

      Art for tourist: Art depicted in lifestyle products, greeting cards, post cards, paintings and jewelry and textile art.

   

    The Clay Pots:

    Pots! As we all know how it is made?

    A potter’s wheel, clay over it and the circular movement of wheel turns the clay to a pot. 

No, it’s different in Chad. Chadians make this exclusively with hand without using wheels and instead of using kiln, they burn it pieces of straw and wood put on fire. Later, they cover it with sand overnight. 

      Basket and woven Fans: 

        These are turned to beautiful shapes and coloured with pigment from plants, flowers and other natural dyes. Colours are usually, purple, and green.                                                            All these are made with straw. 

     Art for tourist: Art depicted in lifestyle products, greeting cards, post cards, paintings and jewelry and textile art.

    These art pieces are made as supplements by women stays at home and supports an extra hand of earnings. 

    

       Stencil painting made using X-Ray paper and are used to make stencils to develop beautiful paintings.

       An organization “Abeche” is devoted to develop cross stitch patterns of chad and animals familiar to all chadians. These cross stitches are placed very tight which is the beauty of the art. 

                         Chadian Literature: Folk Stories. 

   There are many folk stories prevailing at Chad.

     I picked some really interesting ones here.      

    The Sheep, the Goat and the Dog

       The sheep, the Goat and the dog wanted to travel to Sarh. A truck Arrived. The Sheep asks what the price of the trip is.  The driver wanted them to pay five hundred Francs each. So the Sheep gave him five hundred Francs. The Dog gave him a thousand Francs. The Goat asks to pay on arrival, and the driver accepts.

     And so the truck leaves. When, the truck arrived in the town of Sarh, the sheep jumped out of the truck and ran away. The Goat ran away as fast as he could without paying. Then the dog came to drive to ask for 500 francs he owes to him. Driver said, “Ask the goat for it”.

      This is why today, whenever a truck arrives in a village, the goat runs away, the dog runs after the truck, and sheep does not move, because he paid for the fair.

       Source: the book Contes du Tchad : Goundi Tome 2 

Courtesy: Chad Museum 

The forgotten Craft : Brass Art wares.

The forgotten Craft : Antiques in Brass Art wares.From the roots of India, crowning glory of Indian art representations;

The “Brass Art ware”

Brass articles, artifacts has always been a symbol of mark of royalty when we see at shoulders of soldiers, some bureaucratic articles, shields, awards or some beautiful decorative artifacts.

It has always acquired a special place in livelihood of humankind across the world.
Huge intricately crafted utensils, vases, wall articles, worship articles, warriors pride and where not it is used. The famous artifacts areTampatra, Panchpatra, Simhasan, Kanchanthal, which are cast through an indigenous method called, “Para”, a precisely mould casting without joints.

Antique Brass Beetle nut cutters 

Coloured brass idols of god and goddess

enameled brass idols of god and goddess

handcrafted engraved and coloured diya 

Enameled Antique Brass artifacts 

Antique scissor 

Antique marker 

Antique clingy lotus diya 

Antique clingy closed lotus diya 

The other artifacts deliciously includes miniatures, birds, busts, statues, clocks, cutlery, make up utensils, gulabpash, Aftab ; the wine or sharbat server; and hookahs.

These articles are intricately carved for various motifs of Hindu and Islamic culture influences.
We could find birds, trees, vine creeper, char-bhag, deities, god and goddess, swans, peacocks, mango and banana leaves.
The Brass art has flourished well during the ages, and now received less attention. However, the beauty still attracts and old beautiful articles like; surmadani, beetle nut cutter, mirror frames, Pooja thal and idols of gods, hair clips are yet very precious and take the seat in classics.

When we talk about Brass, one name to recite is Moradabad the “ Brass city”.

There are 600 export units and 5000 industries in Uttar Pradesh, exporting 2200 crores worth brass good every year. Majorly exported to countries; USA, Britain, Middle East Asia, Germany and Canada.  
Moradabad is a city, in Muradabad District of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established in 1625 A.D. by Rustam Khan and is named after prince Murad Baksh, the son of the mugal emperor Shah Jahan. 

It is situated on the banks of the Ramganga river at a distance of 167 km from the national capital, New Delhi and 344 km north west of the state capital Lucknow. The city is known as Pital Nagri "The Brass City" and is famous for brass handicrafts industry. 

Moradabad was established as an office for the Chaupala pargana during emperor  Akbar's regime. A mosque named Jama Masjid was constructed in the city by Rustam Khan for the Mughal Emperor. 
Brass; Let’s understand it first.

It is a metal primarily composed of copper and Zinc. Copper in the main component. The colour ranges from dark reddish brown to a light yellow depending upon the amount of zinc present in it. The more zinc the lighter is the colour.

Brass is stronger and hard than copper lesser than steel.

It is easily shaped, a good conductor of heat and resistant to corrosion from salt water.

Different Images from across the world :

Benin Figure. Edo Peoples - Benin, Nigeria

First Appearance:

Copper-zinc alloys were produced as early the 5th century BC in China and were widely used in central Asia by the 2nd and 3rd century BC.

These decorative metal pieces, however, can be best referred to as 'natural alloys', as there is no evidence that their producers consciously alloyed copper and zinc. Instead, it is likely that the alloys were smelted from zinc-rich copper ores, producing crude brass-like metals.

Greek and Roman documents suggest that the intentional production of alloys similar to modern brass, using copper and a zinc oxide-rich ore known as calamine, occurred around the 1st century BC.

Yoruba Brass Bracelet - PF.9950 (LSO) Origin: Nigeria Circa: 19 th Century AD to 20 th Century AD

Ancient metalworkers in the area now known as Syria or eastern Turkey knew how to melt copper with tin to make a metal called bronze as early as 3000 B.C. 

By about 20 B.C.-A.D. 20, metalworkers around the Mediterranean Sea were able to distinguish zinc ores from those containing tin and began blending zinc with copper to make brass coins and other items. Most of the zinc was derived by heating a mineral known as calamine, which contains various zinc compounds.

Starting in about 300 A.D., the brass metalworking industry flourished in present day  Germany and the Netherlands.

In 1746, a German scientist named Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (1709-1782) identified zinc and determined its properties. The process for combining metallic copper and zinc to make brass was patented in England in 1781.
Yoruba Brass Bracelet - PF.9950 (LSO) Origin: Nigeria Circa: 19 th Century AD to 20 th Century AD

Types

'Brass' is a generic term that refers to a wide range of copper-zinc alloys. In fact, there are over 60 different types of brass specified by EN (European Norm) Standards. These alloys can have a wide range of different compositions depending upon the properties required for a particular application.

Design:

The traditional names for various types of brass usually reflected either the color of the material or the intended use. For example, red brass contained 15% zinc and had a reddish color, while yellow brass contained 35% zinc and had a yellowish color. Cartridge brass contained 30% zinc and was used to make cartridges for firearms. Naval brasses had up to 39.7% zinc and were used in various applications on ships.
Formation of Articles.
The basic process involved in Rolling, Extrusion, Die formation, and Indenting. According to articles, engraving, carving, colouring, enameling and polishing is done.

antique surmadani

Antique surma dani

COURTESY : Surajkund craft fair Faridabad.
Artist: From Moradabad.