Koftgari - genuine vs. fake

[mariusgmioc]

I have decided to start a new thread to warn you about the presence of possible fake koftgari originating from India.

A few years ago (2009), while visiting India, I was looking for a good quality new Indian Pesh-kabz. So, with the help of an Indian friend, I reached a small workshop in the outskirts of Mumbai where they were producing "Mughal" knives mainly for export (mostly for Middle Eastern market).

There I was presented with a few lavishly decorated knives. As I was reluctant to buy any, the seller became rather persistent and went into lengthy explanations on how much labour goes into his knifes. During his explanations he said a couple of times that all his knives are decorated with genuine Koftgari and not painted.

At that time, I had no idea that Koftgari can be painted and I was rather surprised to hear that. So I decided to play stupid (which wasn't that difficult after all) and said that the koftgari on his knives appears to be painted. That made him go through the roof and explained me the following:

Genuine Koftgari is made by pressing thin wire or foil of gold into a criss-cross of very fine scratches into the base steel. This is a very labour intensive process that takes a huge amount of time and skill. Since it is made through pressing, the end result is flat in appearance.

As opposed to genuine Koftgari, painted/fake Koftgari is made by simply applying gold/silver paint with a brush over the criss-cross scratches of the base steel. This takes about 10 times less time to make than genuine Koftgari, and for the undiscerning eye looks almost the same.

However, as opposed to the genuine koftgari which is flat, THE PAINTED/FAKE KOFTGARI IS DOMED/ROUNDED/CONVEX IN APPEARANCE like a thick paint that dried out.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Koftgari is subject to aging. When pressed into the scratches, the gold foil/wire doesn't fill the scratches down to the very bottom. Cosequently, at the bottom of the scratches, remain micro-pockets of air that foster oxidation. In time, the mere natural oxidation of the base metal will result in some losses of the gold application even without any mechanical wear.

2. In India it is a wide spread practice to apply Koftgary on older, mundane pieces to make them look more appealing and to increase their commercial value.

3. Gold has the highest ductility and malleability of all metals and that is the reason gold foils and wires were produced much earlier than silver foils and wires (since technologically they were much easier to produce). At the same time, silver oxidizes quite easily gaining a dark, dull apearance. These are main the reasons why silver was not generally used for damascening and Koftgari until much later (mostly in the 19th century, according to my knowledge).

4. Do not mistake new, recently made Koftgari with fake fake Koftgari. There are many skilled Koftgari artists in India who do make genuine Koftgari following centuries old techniques. Their work is by no means less valuable than the old/antique Koftgari and should be appreciated as a surviving artistic treasure of mankind. For more information on such a genuine living treasure you can follow the link below to another thread on this website:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3168

[BANDOOK]

Great information,thats my city ,please can you post pictures of the daggers you have bought,Cheers

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by BANDOOK

Great information,thats my city ,please can you post pictures of the daggers you have bought,Cheers

Hello Bandook,

I love your city and have great memories from there! But that happened in 2009 and I did not take any photos of the knives as they were just presents for friends. They were all with genuine Koftgari and I remember paying ridiculously little for them.

Regards,

Marius

[Battara]

This is great information, many thanks! Very helpful!

I will only note that the contact info no longer works. In fact, I have tried unsuccessfully to contact this great artist.

If there is updated contact information, please post in the Swap Forum.

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

I have decided to start a new thread to warn you about the presence of possible fake koftgari originating from India.

A few years ago (2009), while visiting India, I was looking for a good quality new Indian Pesh-kabz. So, with the help of an Indian friend, I reached a small workshop in the outskirts of Mumbai where they were producing "Mughal" knives mainly for export (mostly for Middle Eastern market).

There I was presented with a few lavishly decorated knives. As I was reluctant to buy any, the seller became rather persistent and went into lengthy explanations on how much labour goes into his knifes. During his explanations he said a couple of times that all his knives are decorated with genuine Koftgari and not painted.

At that time, I had no idea that Koftgari can be painted and I was rather surprised to hear that. So I decided to play stupid (which wasn't that difficult after all) and said that the koftgari on his knives appears to be painted. That made him go through the roof and explained me the following:

Genuine Koftgari is made by pressing thin wire or foil of gold into a criss-cross of very fine scratches into the base steel. This is a very labour intensive process that takes a huge amount of time and skill. Since it is made through pressing, the end result is flat in appearance.

As opposed to genuine Koftgari, painted/fake Koftgari is made by simply applying gold/silver paint with a brush over the criss-cross scratches of the base steel. This takes about 10 times less time to make than genuine Koftgari, and for the undiscerning eye looks almost the same.

However, as opposed to the genuine koftgari which is flat, THE PAINTED/FAKE KOFTGARI IS DOMED/ROUNDED/CONVEX IN APPEARANCE like a thick paint that dried out.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Koftgari is subject to aging. When pressed into the scratches, the gold foil/wire doesn't fill the scratches down to the very bottom. Cosequently, at the bottom of the scratches, remain micro-pockets of air that foster oxidation. In time, the mere natural oxidation of the base metal will result in some losses of the gold application even without any mechanical wear.

2. In India it is a wide spread practice to apply Koftgary on older, mundane pieces to make them look more appealing and to increase their commercial value.

3. Gold has the highest ductility and malleability of all metals and that is the reason gold foils and wires were produced much earlier than silver foils and wires (since technologically they were much easier to produce). At the same time, silver oxidizes quite easily gaining a dark, dull apearance. These are main the reasons why silver was not generally used for damascening and Koftgari until much later (mostly in the 19th century, according to my knowledge).

4. Do not mistake new, recently made Koftgari with fake fake Koftgari. There are many skilled Koftgari artists in India who do make genuine Koftgari following centuries old techniques. Their work is by no means less valuable than the old/antique Koftgari and should be appreciated as a surviving artistic treasure of mankind. For more information on such a genuine living treasure you can follow the link below to another thread on this website:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3168

Indian weapons are not really my interest, but I think you have described the koftgari situation very clearly and concisely. Useful information, thanks for posting.

[Philip]

Having handled many antique Indian weapons during my career as an arms restorer, I would like to point out that on occasion one does encounter examples of koftgari work in which the precious metal (whether gold or silver) does not lie perfectly flat with the surface, but does indeed form a slight topography.

Whether or not this appears, and the degree to which it is observed may have depended on the artisan's original intent and/or the amount of cleaning the piece received during its working life. The thicker overlay does create a pleasing tactile and visual texture and could well represent a prevailing style or the taste of patrons who were willing to pay a premium for it.

At any rate, there is no doubt what the technique is, and it is not paint. The crosshatching is visible under magnification. Areas of losses do not reveal grooves that would indicate true inlay. Detached pieces of the precious metal (observations in the post about the bond being loosened by underlying oxidation are spot on) have all the characteristics of precious metal foil, not paint flakes.

Granted, there are other signs of age that are also apparent in an old piece that also need to be taken into consideration. Koftgari was a widely-practiced decorative technique in eastern cultures, from the Far East to the Maghreb, and it is interesting to note the differences and similarities in the way it was executed from one region to another. In a multi-cultural empire like Mughal India, you can expect variations here and there, not to mention over time.

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Philip

Hello Philip,

Thank you for this very interesting observation!

A possible give-away for fake/painted Koftgari might be the aspect of the domed surfaces (whether they are smooth and regular, as being made from solid foil/wire, as opposed to irregular and/or partially collapsed surfaces like those of drops of dried paint).

In any case, I guess it might be possible to identify fake Koftgari with a higher degree of certainty by examining it under 20x magnification and notice whether the gold inlay is consisting of solid gold wire/sheet, for genuine Koftgari, or is an amalgam of tiny gold grains bonded together in a base laquer (because that's what gold paint is).

Didn't test this myself though as I don't have any fake Koftgari at hand but I imagine it would work.

[rickystl]

Thanks for this Post. Rick.

[Battara]

Phillip you bring up a good point. I have an Ottoman kard (bichaq) that has slightly domed koftgari with the cross hatching. Yet my sossoun pata has flat koftgari.

Unless it is Bidri, I think that cross hatching is a great hint for true koftgari, and how "painty" the work appears.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Philip is correct, I am glad to say.
When the kroftgari was done, it was mostly filed down to a flat surface. One theory could be, that it whould not show the cross hatches, likely imitating inlay. However, there are too many old examples that the koftgari gold work was very thick, to say that all thick koftgari gold work it was painted, as it may be to day - although I have not yet seen any hilts with painted koftgari.

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Battara

Phillip you bring up a good point. I have an Ottoman kard (bichaq) that has slightly domed koftgari with the cross hatching. Yet my sossoun pata has flat koftgari.

Unless it is Bidri, I think that cross hatching is a great hint for true koftgari, and how "painty" the work appears.

The presence of cross hatching is NOT an indication of genuine Koftgari as paint is also applied on cross hatching to adere to the surface. All the fake Koftgari I have seen was applied on cross hatching.

To my knowledge, fake/painted Koftgari is not very common, but since it is dirt cheap to produce I am pretty sure we will see more of it.

[ariel]

Maybe I just do not get it:
OK, they cross-hatched, applied gold paint , and then? They had to wipe off the unneeded paint to preserve thin, uniform, precise lines, right?
How was it done? Scraping off dried gold paint would leave behind uneven lines, no matter what.

Am I missing something?

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by ariel

Maybe I just do not get it:
OK, they cross-hatched, applied gold paint , and then? They had to wipe off the unneeded paint to preserve thin, uniform, precise lines, right?
How was it done? Scraping off dried gold paint would leave behind uneven lines, no matter what.

Am I missing something?

Hello Ariel,

The process is simple:

1. make the cross-hatches so that the paint adheres to the surface
2. with tiny (and I mean really tiny) brushes paint the desired pattern
3. let it dry
4. finished.

Now why would there be unwanted paint to be scraped when it is painted exactly the pattern that is needed (thin, fine and precise)?

It is like painting a miniature work just it is much easier because you have only one colour and the detail is not that small (in miniature painting I have seen artists in Udaipur using brushes with one or two hairs).

However, since the gold paint is rather thick, the precision of the design is not very good. Just have a look at the Tulwar hilt that I mentioned (that I can bet it is painted) and try to imagine yourself painting it with a precise brush and a steady hand.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

try to imagine yourself painting it with a precise brush and a steady hand.

What? No sixpack at lunchbreak?

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by ariel

What? No sixpack at lunchbreak?

When I suggested you try to imagine painting the respective Tulwar, I wasn't being sarcastic, but I genuinely meant it as it will help you understand the technique and better judge the end result.

As with regards to the "sixpack at lunchbreak"... the truth is I have no idea what it means as I am not a native speaker.

[ariel]

Sorry: six pack is a colloquial American for a cardboard box of 6 bottles of beer.
Beer is just a liquid bread:-)
I am nursing a bottle of Heineken as we speak, but if you happen to come over, I shall take you on a day-long tour of local microbreweries. After a second one you will not be able to draw thin and elegant gold lines, but there will be a very wide smile on your face. You haven't lived till you tried Bell's Two-Hearted India Pale Ale:-)))

Cheers!

[mariusgmioc]

Thank you for the explanation!

Heineken is from here! Now, if you come here I can take you on a tour of the old factory. With some tasting of course!

But the best place for enjoying beer is Belgium where you can sample their huge variety.

[Philip]

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly regarding the beer. And Belgium has the food to go with it -- the mussels, the equine specialties (whinney-hee-hee!) and of course those unbeatable "French" fries!