teh-tula vs koftgari on kindjals and other weaponary of the caucasus

[ariel]

Can you give a reference to this technique/name?
All this is totally new to me.

[Interested Party]

Thanks Ren Ren. I can't tell if they were triangular, but knowing that technique was in Dagestan is enlightening. Were the triangles simply indentions or was the back of the triangle slightly raised like a riffing file and smoothed down later? I'm guessing the Dagestani craftsmen used it in the 1880s-1920s?

Ariel what kind of acid do you use to highlight differential tempers?

[corrado26]

One of the really best books dealing with Caucasian arms with lots of fotos and very good description of the background and origin of kinjals, shashkas, guns, rifles, pistols etc on 353 pages is the yearbook 2000 of the Danish Arms Collecting Society, the Vabenhistorisk Selskab.
corrado26

[Ren Ren]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

Thanks Ren Ren. I can't tell if they were triangular, but knowing that technique was in Dagestan is enlightening. Were the triangles simply indentions or was the back of the triangle slightly raised like a riffing file and smoothed down later? I'm guessing the Dagestani craftsmen used it in the 1880s-1920s?

In this case, the triangular dots (or better to say the pits) are completely different from the surface of the file. The surface after filling the pits with gold is completely flat (perhaps this is the result of numerous cleanings). I assume that in the years 1880-1920 no one used this technique for about 100 years, either in Dagestan or in Iran. Those items that I saw personally date back to the 18th century or at the very beginning of the 19th century.

[ariel]

Bidri technique is characterized by perfectly flat surface. What is described in the Indian paper cited by Kwiatek is an inlay technique with gold/silver/brass wire hammered into incised channels and polished flat with the surface. This was used in the Caucasus and locally known as Zarnishan. Zarbuland is when the same wire protruded above the surface.
What the author describes as Zarnishan sounds suspiciously like Koftgari.

I can see Indian bidri-workers mixing their classical techniques with inlay for additional beauty effects. But to the best of my knowledge, nobody in the Caucasus did bidri work. A very, very different Caucasian technique somewhat resembling bidri ( black/white contrasts) was indeed niello, but again only very superficially.
My guess ( and we all are guessing here) is that we are talking local (linguistic?) variability of terminology. Perhaps ( another wild guess) in India Teh-nishan ( teh-tula?) was a local name of bidri+ inlay of some variety.

[kwiatek]

I don’t think the terms teh-nishan or teh-tila/tula are in India restricted to Bidri ware. I cited that paper because it was one of the few places in English where they give an explanation for teh-tila. I suspect what has happened is that in the secondary literature terms are used across borders to refer to the same or similar techniques even where they were not originally part of the local parlance.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by kwiatek

I suspect what has happened is that in the secondary literature terms are used across borders to refer to the same or similar techniques even where they were not originally part of the local parlance.

Agree. That’s what I meant.

[Interested Party]

I can't remember where I first saw the term teh-tula, but after combing the internet I found these jewels.

First we have David J. Atkinson who says,"There are three koftgiri techniques:
Te-hen-shah or "Deep inlay": a pattern is carved into a blade and the silver wire is hammered into the undercut grooves (a process called "zabr kardan"). You can't feel the pattern on the blade. This is more typically simply called "inlay".
Traditional koftgari: a crosshatching pattern drawn on the blade with a sharp implement ("Silai", a hard steel needle) followed by heating and pressing with a polish hakik stone. You can feel the pattern. Also called "cross-hatch wire koftgari". In Persian it is called "talakub".
Teh-tula: a gold or silver foil is hammered onto a crosshatch or punched surface. This is more of an overlay art. You can feel the gold/silver on the objects. The pattern just looks embossed.
Another technique called "Mulamma" is thought of as imitation koftgari. It is a way of gold plating (gilding) on steel. Like koftgiri, the surface to be gilded is crosshatched. The pattern is drawn with the silai and then very thin gold leave is applied and rubbed with an agate stone, bone, or an ivory burnisher. Repeated heating and rubbing assures the soft gold is spread evenly and fixed firmly to the surface. A variation is to apply a paste of gold and mercury instead of gold leaf. Subsequent heating vaporizes the mercury leaving only the gold fixed to the surface pattern. These techniques are not to be confused with a modern technique to fake koftgari by painting gold or silver paint with a brush over the criss-cross pattern. Real koftgari work takes considerable time and skill to execute."

Next is a blurb from the Federation Of Rajasthan Handicraft Exporters. "In ancient times in India, the types of damascening art done were......
Te-hen-shah work - It is an inlay art in which gold/silver is hammered on the deep chiseled design. It is so smooth that one can’t feel the gold/silver on the iron base.
Teh-tula work -it is a kind of overlay art in which we can feel gold/silver work on the objects, they seem like embossed on iron base. It’s really hard to find this work as it was done in past. The variation of punching is adopted by artist to give a similar look.
Koftgari work - it is an overlay art which is done by pressing gold/silver wire by special tool on crosshatching and then its heated and pressed by a polish hakik stone (no normal stone is used). This is an art of damascening that is currently practiced and found in India."

There was an interesting thread on Sword Forum in 2008. Sandeep Singh a contemporary koftgari artist explains, "Te-hen-shah work- its an inlaid art in which gold/silver is hammered on the deep chisseled design, you cant feel the gold/silver on the iron as we can see in teh-tula work

Koftgari work - its an overlay art which is done by pressing gold/silver wire by special tool on crosshatching and then its heated and pressed by a polish hakik stone ( not normal stone is use). In this also you can feel gold/silver

Teh-tula work - its also a kind of overlay art in which we can feel gold/silver work on the objects, they just seems embosed work, its really hard to find this work.

In India Koftgari art still exists but no idea about the other two art it may be lost[.]" Later in the thread Mr. Singh changes his spelling to teh-thula. He also has some nice examples on the thread.

Finally the article provided by Kwiatek (thank you for that I really enjoyed it) summarizes, "According to the process used for the inlay, the work is know as Tarkashi (if only wire is inlaid). Tehnishan (if the inlay looks flush with the surface of the object). Mahtabi or Aftabi (if the design looks black against the overlaid metal sheet); Zarnishan (if the inlaid pieces are in low relief), Zarbuland (if the inlaid pieces are in high relief) and koftgari (it is done by first drawing out the pattern in the steel surface surface with a hard steel needle or silai). "

I've included my notes of trying to assimilate and synthesize all these different sources. Provided you are able to read my handwriting this may be a helpful summary of my reading to date. I have been held back in my study by only being fluent in English and reading only a couple more none of which seem to have much source material for this region and art form. Therefore I have been dependent on translations. I have been looking at Russian and Danish books hoping to find a translation. That said I have found at least a years worth of quality material to digest.

Ariel an interesting note on terms meanings drifting across regions seems to be that in Indian parlance there are 3 gradations of inlay relief. While in Caucasus region zarnishan my be flush?

From what I've understood so far is the punches on this blade would most likely be would be of fairly modern origin as they are round and there do not seem to be large kindjals with providence to the 18th century. So probably a modern copy of a redecoration of a later 19th century piece.

A second addendum to this post would be the question of temper in these items. Koftgari is said to need to heat the steel to blue to bond the wire to the steel. Wiki lists the various blue temper colors and their uses as;
"Dark blue – 310 °C (590 °F) – screwdrivers, wrenches
Light blue – 337 °C (639 °F) – springs, wood-cutting saws
Grey-blue – 371 °C (700 °F) and higher – structural steel"
This once again makes me wonder about the original RC of these items. Afterall bending is better than breaking.

[Ren Ren]

Originally Posted by ariel

Can you give a reference to this technique/name?
All this is totally new to me.

I saw objects with this inlay technique in the collection of Kamil Khaidakov (you know him). Examples are also given in his book Камил Хайдаков "Персидские сабли. Некоторые вопросы атрибуции" ("Persian sabers. Some attribution issues") on pages 25, 111, 125.