This school of paintings originated in Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, India during the reign of the Marathas in the 16th century.These paintings are peculiar, ancient, miniature type of painting named after the place Thanjavur (Tanjore in English).
Thanjavur paintings have Geographical Indication tags by Government of India in 2007-08, which puts a premium on their authenticity, but there are no regulations governing the quality or authenticity.
The gold foil is used liberally in Thanjavur paintings which serves two objectives: the glitter makes the painting more attractive, and it also prolongs the life of the artefact. But nowadays not every Thanjavur painting that glitters is gold.
 |
| taken from http://www.thanjavurpaintings.com |
- A typical Thanjavur painting would consist of one main figure, a deity, with a well-rounded body & almond shaped eyes. This figure would be housed in an enclosure created by means of an arch, curtains etc.
- The painting would be made by the gilded and gem-set technique - a technique where gold leaves & sparkling stones are used to highlight certain aspects of the painting like ornaments, dresses etc.
- Paintings were done on materials like wood, glass, mica, exotic media such as ivory, murals and manuscripts.
- Most of the paintings would depict Hindu deities & saints particularly the Child Krishna and his various pranks, paintings of other deities were also created.
- The painting would be bright & colourful and breathtakingly beautiful. Traditional Thanjavur paintings are possessed as heirlooms.
- The art was practiced by two main communities namely - the RAJUS in THANJAVUR and TRICHY (a city near THANJAVUR) and NAIDUS in MADURAI (a city ruled by PANDIYAS). These were originally Telugu speaking people from "Rayalseema" region.
To find out if the gold foil and gemstones used in these traditional crafts were authentic or fake, energy dispersive Xray analysis (EDX) and Raman spectroscopy methods are used.
Comments
Post a Comment