Jaipur Blue Pottery

On the roadside you see huge stacks of very attractive ceramic pots from Rajasthan which many of us regard as Jaipur Blue Pottery.This is wrong as was proved to me during my visit to Rajasthan in 1999


Shri Kripal Singh



One of the purposes of my visit  was to learn about this art form.For this I was advised  to meet Shri Kripal Singh Shekhawat in Jaipur. He had made a tremendous contribution to the cause of the craft of Jaipur Blue Pottery in Rajasthan.

While in Jaipur I was very lucky to have been able to spend 3-4 hours during which he narrated the story of introduction, near extinction and revival of this traditional art form of Rajasthan



Mugs bought by my friend
at Mount Abu Years ago

 .

Shri Kirpal Singh asked me as to how I got interested in this field. On telling him about my introduction to  Ceramics, he told me that he was not a Potter by training or profession and  that he got into this field by mere accident. His first love had always been and was even at that time, painting



Proof of Authenticity
 Jaipur Blue
Pottery with Kripal
Singh's signature



“What is the clay body composition you use in Jaipur Blue” I asked him naively. “We use no clay in Jaipur Blue” was his stunning reply. "Pottery without clay? “We use powdered glass, and pule ka gum (tragacanth) and silica” 

. Then he narrated the story of Jaipur Blue Pottery and the part he has played in its development. I reproduce it here as much as I recollect it.

The Story of Revival of Jaipur Blue Pottery

Chinese porcelain  was imported to by land route Europe through Persia. In the realm of  Shah Abbas II  the Persians who were experts in glass making  thought,of entering into porcelain making  For this purpose they invited some workers from China.However they failed miserably, as they had no necessary natural resources. From the glass manufacture industry they developed a process whereby they were successful in fashioning articles similar to present day Jaipur Blue Pottery and these articles had a distinct blue colour. This distinct blue colour was due to the use of cobalt which was known to them. They used to call their ware nenge meaning hard like (?) stone.

These wares especially the tiles were introduced in the Mogul architecture in India by Iranian craftsmen. By the time of the rule of Badshah Zafar the Indian potters in Moghul court learnt to fashion articles similar to the Persian ones. Even After 1857, perhaps when the Iranian craftsmen left, the tradition continued. The noted potter of the time was Bhola Kumhar of Rajasthan. He and his followers continued the tradition for quite a while.

How was it introduced in Rajasthan? The erstwhile Maharana of Jaipur, Raja Ram Singhjee was a patron of Arts and Crafts. He was responsible for introducing this craft in Rajasthan. While on the lookout for suitable candidates to learn the art,he found two vagrant Kumhar (potter) boys.who had won a prize at the annual kite flying competition! .These were Kalu Ram and Chura Mani. Maharana’s offer to send them for training to learn this art at the Moghul court was gladly accepted by the youths.

On their return to Jaipur both of these artisans began to fashion articles, which by now came to be known as Jaipur Blue.Their descendants continued to pursue the art. And true to the tradition of the time they had ensured that the process was a very closely and jealously guarded secret. This coupled with sloth and disinterest forced this tradition out of Jaipur court and it became near extinct.

At the time of Independence Jaipur  had an  Arts  Institute  known as Sawai Ram Singh Shilpa Kala Mandir In 1963  Kripal Singh was appointed as it's head About that time Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur thought of the possibility of reviving the art of Jaipur Blue which by now had become near extinct.She felt that the only person who could be trusted with this job was Kripal Singh,who  was most reluctant to assume this responsibility for lack of  inclination or  technical knowledge to undertake the task. However he accepted the challenge and thus embarked on his mission to find  out how this kind of pottery is made.

In the Mogul archives he came across a formula unearthed by Lord Baden Powell for making this kind of a ceramic. Tthis led him on  a wrong trail as the author had mentioned the main ingredient as powdered marble. Experiments with this material led to a total failure.

 He then set upon the descendants of Bhola Ram and Kalu Ram which led him to a budhia  (Old woman). She knew the ‘secret’ and as there was some dushmani(enmity) between her and Bhola Ram -  Kalu Ram clan she let out the secret of the main ingredient being a particular kind of a 'stone'. Her job was   to grind this on a grinding wheel . She gave a sample of the ‘stone’ to Kripal Singh who  was amazed to discover that this was glass! He found the source of the glass to (?) Faiz(a)… bad(pur).‘stone’ which. Budhia obviously did not know the source, as she was supplied the material by  a middleman who used to obtain it from a manufacturer elsewhere .He used to obtain the material at a throwaway price and sell it at  Jaipur at an exorbitant rate. The material and its source had thus remained as a closely guarded secret.It eventually transpired that this material was available in truckloads  as a waste product of glass making industry at throwaway prices. Today this material is mainly used to make fiberglass.

The search for  mainly blue (and green) led Kripal Singh on a visit to Persia. The stains used in Persia were known as  sangine for blue and …….for  green. To his amazement he found that Persians extracted these from a mineral similar to the one used in Rajasthan  where  the traditional potters for centuries have been using this mineral to decorate the ware with black designs. The Persian court employed a specialist class of artisans known as Al  khemiz ( chemists) who used  to  isolate the components of the mineral to obtain pure ingredients. The raw mineral contained cobalt, iron and manganese which we all know gives us blue, brown and purple effect on oxidation and when combined to give the black , the effect which the Rajasthani potters get !.

He then discovered that other stain known to Rajasthan potters, as ‘tambda’ was copper oxide.What the thatheras (copper smiths) used to dump as worthless waste from the process of pot making, and sell it as worthless scrap, the scrap dealers used to sell it as a costly raw material to the artisans as “Tambda’, the source of green stain    

After this amazing story of the discovery of the main ingredients the rest of the story of rediscovery of Jaipur Blue is history. There were a few minor discoveries of other stains accidentally discovered from painter’s palettes or a chance scrap of a stone ground and yielding fascinating stains.

The inputs for this story are from my memory and scrap notes taken at that time in 1999

Rediscovery of Jaipur Blue was thus a pursuit of a 'reluctant' potter. That shows the genius of a man and goes to prove that single-minded purpose can surmount any hurdles.

Kripal Singh  was awarded the State of Rajasthan as well as Indian Govt for excellence in art. In 1974 he was conferred Padma Shree and the title Shilp Guruby the Govt of India and the title Shilp Guru by the Govt of India.He has trained a large number of artists in this revived art form.

(Originally the term Jaipur Blue was given particularly to the turquoise blue shaded articles. Now it is used, as a generic term to articles made from powdered glass waste and pule ka gum -  tragacanth .It's the colour is immaterial – they are basically stains. However the original art form has not spread beyond Jaipur; may be perhaps to Jodhpur. The masses of cheap ceramic articles sold on the roadsides all over India as Rajasthan pottery is not manufactured in Rajasthan at all.  It is a cheap imitation of Jaipur Blue from cheap materials and mostly manufactured in Khurja in UP).