A pottery without earth
Blue pottery's family tree reaches back to the tile-makers of Persia and Central Asia, and its survival into our century was not inevitable. It nearly disappeared within living memory, and it was brought back by a painter, a reformer and a maharani.
Stone, not clay: ordinary pottery begins with clay dug from the ground. Jaipur's blue pottery begins with stone.
The paste: finely ground quartz mixed with powdered glass, multani mitti or fuller's earth, borax and a natural gum, bound with water.
- Body
- Quartz paste, almost no clay
- Blue
- Cobalt oxide
- Turquoise
- Copper oxide
- Shaped
- In moulds, never on a wheel
- Protected
- Geographical Indication
- Not pottery at all: there is so little true clay in it that Jaipur's potters will tell you so, with some pride.
- Why moulds: it cannot be thrown on a wheel like a village water pot, so it is pressed into moulds, shaped by hand and fired at a low temperature.
- Beautiful and fragile: that same body is why each piece is both.
- The classic palette: deep cobalt blue and bright turquoise-green on a white ground, in flowers, vines, birds and arabesques.
- Newer colours: some studios add yellow, green, brown and even pink, but the old blue-on-white is still the heart of it.
- A shelf of sky: in the light of a Jaipur afternoon it looks like a piece of the sky set down indoors.
- Jaipur's own: one of the few crafts the city can call entirely its own, with a Geographical Indication protecting the name for work made here in the traditional way.
From Persian tiles to a Jaipur courtyard
Where it began: a glazed, quartz-rich body painted in cobalt and copper came from the workshops of Persia and Central Asia, where it covered mosques, tombs and palaces in shimmering tiles.
Whose tomb: Chini ka Rauza holds Afzal Khan Shirazi, a scholar and poet from Shiraz who served Shah Jahan as his prime minister.
Into India: it travelled with the Turkic and Mughal rulers, and its descendants survive on Mughal buildings.
- Origins
- Persia and Central Asia
- Mughal example
- Chini ka Rauza, Agra, 17th century
- Came to Jaipur
- Under Sawai Ram Singh II, 1835 to 1880
- School of art
- Founded 1866
- Near vanished
- By the 1950s
- Chini ka Rauza: the best example near Rajasthan, the seventeenth-century tomb in Agra whose facade was once completely covered in glazed tiles. Enough remains to show where Jaipur's colours came from.
- Arrival in Jaipur: in the nineteenth century, under Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, who reigned from 1835 to 1880.
- A modernising king: he brought gas lighting to the city and founded institutions to train craftsmen, among them the state's school of art of 1866.
- Potters from Delhi: tradition says he invited them to teach their methods, and the craft was practised under royal patronage.
- Royal uses: palace fountains, bathrooms and tableware, and Jaipur became the centre of the craft in India.
- The decline: when royal patronage faded in the twentieth century, so did the pottery. By mid-century only a few elderly craftsmen remembered the methods.
- The 1950s: blue pottery had all but vanished from Jaipur, its kilns cold and its moulds put away.
- See the old pieces: in the collections of the City Palace and the Albert Hall Museum.
The painter who brought it back
Spend an hour in a good studio and you will notice who does the work. Many painters are women, and many studios are family businesses in which a father moulds, a daughter paints and a cousin minds the kiln. When people ask whether buying souvenirs makes a difference, this is the craft we point to.
The man: Kripal Singh Shekhawat, a painter and muralist trained in the traditions of Rajasthan, Shantiniketan and beyond.
The push: after Independence, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, the great champion of Indian crafts, encouraged him to research and revive blue pottery.
- The reviver
- Kripal Singh Shekhawat, 1922 to 2008
- Encouraged by
- Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
- Supported by
- Maharani Gayatri Devi
- Today's problem
- Factory ceramic sold as the real thing
- Her wider work: Kamaladevi was the first chair of the All India Handicrafts Board, set up in 1952 to rescue crafts like this one across the country.
- Royal support: Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur backed the effort, and the two women helped found a crafts centre to train artisans and sell their work.
- The detective work: he studied old pieces, talked to the last surviving craftsmen and experimented with materials and kilns until the pottery could be made reliably again.
- A painter's eye: he widened its designs and colours, adding motifs from Rajput and Mughal painting, from Ajanta and from nature.
- A new generation: he trained potters and painters who opened their own studios, and others followed, some close to the old Persian patterns, some pushing towards modern shapes.
- From near death to icon: within a few decades it became one of the best-known souvenirs of Rajasthan.
- Success has a cost: much of what is sold as blue pottery today is ordinary factory ceramic painted to look like it.
- Why we visit studios: so you understand the difference and buy the real thing from the people who make it.
How a piece of blue pottery is made
- Katira
- The natural gum in the paste
- Moulds
- Usually plaster
- Brushes
- Squirrel or goat hair
- Firing
- Once, at a low temperature
- Time
- Several days for a small bowl
Mixing the paste
The recipe: quartz powder, powdered glass, fuller's earth, borax and a natural gum called katira, mixed with water into a stiff dough and rested.
- A studio secret: the proportions are rarely written down.
- The balance: too much glass and the piece slumps in the kiln, too little and the body won't hold together.
Pressing into moulds
No wheel: with so little clay the paste can't be thrown.
- Like a chapati: the potter rolls it flat, presses it into a mould, usually plaster, and backs it with ash or sand to hold the shape.
- Larger pieces: vases and jars are moulded in two halves and joined while still soft.
Drying, smoothing and coating
Out of the mould: once dry, the piece is lifted out and the filling tipped away.
- Smoothing: with sandpaper and a damp cloth, and rims and handles added by hand.
- The white ground: a dip in fine white slip of quartz and glass gives the bright surface for painting.
Painting by hand
The colours: cobalt oxide for blue and copper oxide for turquoise, mixed with gum and water.
- The brushes: fine, often of squirrel or goat hair, used freehand.
- The order: outlines first, then fills.
- A master's mark: experienced painters work astonishingly fast without any drawing, and you can tell their pieces by the confidence of the lines.
Glazing and the single firing
The glaze: the painted piece is dipped in a glassy glaze and fired once.
- The kiln: closed, traditionally heated with wood or charcoal, at a low temperature compared with stoneware.
- The wait: firing and slow cooling take many hours.
- The anxious moment: some pieces crack and some colours run, and the potter only knows when the kiln is cool.
Reading the patterns
Arabesques and scrolling vines
The oldest patterns: Persian scrolling vines, interlaced tendrils and stylised leaves that fill a surface without beginning or end.
- From the tile tradition: where a pattern had to run across a whole wall.
- The hardest to paint: a single wobble shows across the whole design.
Flowers from the Mughal garden
The flowers: lotus, poppy, iris and the many-petalled rosette, again and again.
- Their relatives: the flowers inlaid in marble at the Taj Mahal and painted on the walls of Rajput palaces.
- On a good piece: every petal is drawn with a single confident stroke.
Birds and animals
- A revival addition: peacocks, parrots, fish, deer and elephants came in more fully as painters borrowed from Rajput miniatures and the life around them.
- The peacock: Rajasthan's most beloved bird and India's national bird, a favourite that shows off a painter's brush.
Geometry
- Frames: star patterns, interlocking circles and chequered bands.
- On tiles: geometric borders let a pattern continue from one tile to the next, as on the old walls of Persia and the Mughal tombs.
The new designs
New objects: knobs, lamps, bathroom basins and modern tableware.
- New looks: young designers try plain glazes, bold single motifs and colours far from the old blue.
- Our view: purists grumble, but a living craft should be allowed to change, as long as the quartz body and the hand painting remain.
Where we take you to see blue pottery
- Studio
- A family workshop we've known for years
- Location
- Mostly on the city's edges
- Museums
- Albert Hall and the City Palace
- Fixed prices
- Rajasthali, MI Road
- Commissions
- Tell us before you arrive
A working studio in Jaipur
The studio: a small family workshop we have known for years, where paste is mixed, pieces moulded and painted by hand and the kiln fired on site.
- Every stage: you meet the potters and painters and have time to ask questions.
- No pressure: the family is paid for its time whether you buy or not.
- The drive: many studios lie on the edges of the city rather than in the walled bazaars, and the journey is part of the visit.
A painting session
Your kit: a pre-made tile, plate or small bowl, brushes and the oxide colours.
- The lesson: a painter shows you how to load the brush and lay a line.
- What guests paint: usually a tile or a coaster.
- Fired for you: the studio glazes and fires it, and we deliver it to your hotel or send it home if the firing falls after you leave.
The royal collections
- The museums: the Albert Hall Museum in Ram Niwas Garden has decorative arts including pottery, and the City Palace holds objects from the royal household.
- Why go first: seeing the old work helps you appreciate what the revival achieved.
The shops we trust
Real quartz pottery: a few Jaipur shops sell it from named workshops.
- A price benchmark: Rajasthali, the state emporium on MI Road, has fixed prices that give a useful sense of fair value.
- No commission: we never take one on what you buy. Our guide to the bazaars of Jaipur explains the rest.
Commissions and orders
Sets and tiles: plates, kitchen tiles or door knobs for a house. Tell us before you arrive.
- What we do: introduce a studio that does this well, help agree designs, colours and quantities, and give honest timings for making, firing and shipping.
- Lead times: large orders can take weeks, and the studio will want to fire a test piece first.
In Agra, the ancestor
Half an hour: at Chini ka Rauza, if you travel on to Agra.
- Where: on the east bank of the Yamuna, near Itimad-ud-Daulah.
- The connection: standing before its tiles after a morning in a Jaipur studio links the two cities beautifully.
How to tell real blue pottery, and buy it well
Weight: real quartz pottery is light for its size. Heavy, thick pieces are usually ordinary ceramic.
Body: at an unglazed foot or a chip, a real piece shows a white, slightly granular, glassy body, not red or grey clay.
Translucency: hold a thin piece to the light. Real blue pottery often glows faintly at the rim.
- Painting: hand painting varies slightly from one flower to the next, with visible brush marks. Perfectly repeated patterns are often printed transfers.
- Glaze: clear and glassy, with colours just beneath. Small bubbles or pinholes are normal in a low firing.
- Price: real work takes days. If a large vase costs less than a dinner, it is not what the label says.
- Use: ask whether the glaze suits food and the dishwasher. Many pieces are best for display, flowers or dry food, washed by hand.
- Packing: it is fragile. Good studios pack it well, and we arrange tracked shipping for larger orders.
- Read more: our blue pottery buying guide and shopping guide.
When to go, and the right hour
October to March: pleasant for painting in an open courtyard, steady drying, and studios busy with orders for the winter wedding season and buyers from abroad.
Before Diwali: in the weeks before Diwali, in October or November, studios make lamps, bowls and festival gifts, and are especially lively.
- Best season
- October to March
- Liveliest
- The weeks before Diwali
- Best hours
- About ten until one
- Hot months
- April to June; short, early visits
- Monsoon
- Slower drying, gentler pace
- The best hours: about ten until one, when painters are fresh, the light is good and a kiln is often being loaded or unloaded.
- April to June: kilns make studios very hot, so we keep visits short and early.
- The monsoon: humid air slows drying and some studios work at a gentler pace, though they are still happy to receive guests.
- The wider picture: our guide to the best time to visit Jaipur.
Who will love a studio visit
Designers, collectors and photographers
Colour, ceramics and interiors: anyone who loves them finds a studio absorbing.
- Commissions: collectors and designers often order a set of plates in a pattern or kitchen tiles, with honest lead times for making and shipping.
- Photographers: the painters' hands, rows of drying pieces and the moment the kiln opens.
Families and couples
Children: they enjoy the painting session, and their tiles are often more fun than their parents'.
- Our advice: about two hours, and let them paint something they will use, such as a coaster or a small dish.
- Couples: some paint a tile for each other, a sweet souvenir that costs nothing to carry.
Who it suits less well
- Grandeur every hour: guests who want forts and palaces all day, or who dislike dust and heat. Workshops are working spaces, and the kiln room is warm.
- The comfortable version: an hour in a good shop and the museum collections give you much of the story.
Paying the people who make it
The commission trap: some drivers and guides across Rajasthan earn commissions from showrooms selling factory ceramics as hand-made blue pottery. Ours are paid never to do this.
Our way: we take guests to makers we know, pay studios for their time, and never take a share of what you buy.
Factory visits: if a stranger suggests one, or a special sale, say no, politely and firmly.
- Our guides
- No commission, ever
- Studios
- Paid for the time they give you
- Bargaining
- Not over tiles and coasters
- Drying pieces
- Don't touch
- Buy directly: from the studio when you can, so the money reaches the people who made the piece.
- Don't bargain hard: over small things such as a tile or a coaster.
- Larger orders: the studio will quote a fair price, and we help with shipping and paperwork.
- Photographs: ask before photographing painters at work, especially women.
- Hands off: drying pieces are fragile until they are fired.
- Read more: our page on the artisans we work with and travelling responsibly.
Fitting blue pottery into a Jaipur stay
A day of Jaipur crafts
Print, then paint: a morning with a block-printing family in Bagru, lunch in the city and a tile at a blue pottery studio in the afternoon.
- Or gems: pair the studio with the gem cutters of Gopalji ka Rasta, on our gems and jewellery page.
- The wider picture: our page on block printing and crafts.
With the museums
- The order: the City Palace in the morning, the studio, then the Albert Hall Museum in the late afternoon, staying to see it lit after dark.
- The days together: our Jaipur itinerary.
Where to stay
- Rambagh Palace: Rambagh Palace, the former royal residence where Maharani Gayatri Devi lived, is a fitting base for a craft she helped revive.
- Alternatives: Samode Haveli, with its painted rooms inside the walled city, and The Oberoi Rajvilas, with its calm gardens.
On a longer craft journey
- The trail: our textile and craft trail begins with block printing, blue pottery and gems in Jaipur.
- Onward: Bundi, Udaipur and Jodhpur, meeting painters, weavers and dyers along the way.