E1245: India- Clay Figure Pottery Vendor

Ethnographic

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Identifier:

E1245

Classification Category:

8:Communication Artifacts ➞ Art/Folk Art

Marks/Labels:

None

Materials:

botanical ➔ wood
clay ➔ ceramic
animal ➔ hair
colorant ➔ paint
colorant ➔ dye
binding agents ➔ adhesive ➔ synthetic glue
binding agents ➔ joiners ➔ metal wire ➔ armature
fabric ➔ cloth ➔ cotton
fabric ➔ thread

Dimensions:

15.5 cm L
12.2 cm W
13.2 cm H

Provenance of Object:

Most likely from Krishnanagar in the West Bengal province of India, given the great amount of realism within the figurines (Smith).

Ethnic Group:

Asian ➞ India ➞ West Bengal ➞ Krishnanagar

Production Date:

Sometime in the 1800s, presumably toward the latter half, during British colonization of India, as the British were great patron of the Krishnanagar clay figurine makers (Chatterjee, 208).

Use/Function:

Krishnanagar figurines were most likely used as decorative objects by those who had lived in India upon their return to their home country. These figurines, depicting the people whom the traveler would have encountered in their everyday life in India, served as a way to document to others what life in India was like in a time when photography was expensive (Smith and Stevenson, 41). Additionally, these could also be status and/or exotic objects, such as defined by Goffman, and thereby relate the status of the traveler onto visitors of the house (Riggins, 347, 350).

Source Locality:

From the EcoTarium in Worchester, MA. Was originally owned by a George Winthrop of the same town, and was purchased in India, most likely Calcutta, or at the very least, somewhere in West Bengal.

Acquisition Date:

1874 – 1885

Description:

Man sitting surrounded by white and blue pottery. Man is made of clay and is sitting on a painted wooden base.

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