![]() Types of Art Work on Household Items The art work on the household items is differentiated based on the type of household item. There are several items which bear different style of art and crafts on them with different meaning, symbols and expressions. On the basis of that, the art works on the items are: ![]() Vessels of Brass:Art work on the vessels of brass is another popular craft among the rural women of Bengal. These vessels made of brass include rice bowl, betel-box, nutcracker, kohl-compact, comb, vermilion-box etc. Vessels of brass produced by the Dhokra or Mai community are the most popular ones. The art works on these vessels exhibit a wide range of exquisite shapes and designs of leaves and creepers. Hand Fan: Hand fan is another domestic article, which is made by stitching colorful threads on discarded clothes to weave it around a frame of a piece of bamboo. The colourful threads on the fan provide the effect of rainbow. The weaving style includes geometric designs, comprising several small squares, birds and flower motifs etc. ![]() Decorated Sitting Mats: The sitting mats are used to sit on the floor, which is another example of domestic art. These mats were woven by the women during their spare time with multi-coloured threads of discarded clothes. These mats display subtle designs of flowers, leaves and creepers, the dual figures of Radha and Krishna, birds and animals and a variety of geometric designs. Lakshmi’s Wicker-Basket: Wicker-basket is made out of small pieces of bamboo or cane, which was ornamentally decorated with a cotton fabric of red colour on which countless small conches were embedded. Vermilion and silver rupees or gold mohurs or coins are offered to Goddess Lakshmi in these baskets. Wooden Moulds: Wooden moulds were used to prepare sweets such as sandesh, khirer swasti, chandrapuli, amsatta etc. These moulds were given various geometrical designs, such as square, rhombus, triangle, circle, semicircle etc. Some of the moulds were made in the shapes of different objects like fish, lychee, custard apple, conch shell, fruits, flowers with leaves, peacocks, birds, horses and elephants. The surfaces of the moulds display several patterns of alpona. Sometimes, these moulds display few lines of Bengali lyrics or Sanskrit shlokas bearing moral advice. |
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