Solvyns was a Belgian artist working for the British East India Company between 1791-1803. It is likely that this plate represents a Durga image belonging to one of the wealthy Bengali families living in Calcutta at the time. This traditional style of Durga image can still be seen today, for example in the Durga image belonging to the family of Raja Nabakrishna Deb. Here Brahmin priests are shown performing puja in front of the image while members of the family look on. The image is placed in a specially made thakur dalan which is a building within the courtyard of the family home specially made for Durga puja.
Traditional images like this can still be found in the private houses of aristocratic families in Calcutta. They are placed in thakur dalans which are purpose built, arched structures within the main courtyard of the house. Often such images are made in the house by the kumars and keep the traditional style that is particular to that household.
The art of clay image making in West Bengal
Rural or folk art in West Bengal is a story of adaptation and innovation. Traditional art forms that are passed on from generation to generation have to fit in with customer demands and changes in society. At times the livelihood of the artists is placed under threat which means that art forms may die out and be forgotten as younger generations abandon traditional methods and commercial pressures force artists out of business. Clay image making is a distinctive form of Bengali art that deserves to survive. It has been around since medieval times and is intimately bound up with the lives of villagers throughout West Bengal.
The tradition of clay image making became established during the 18th-19th centuries as a distinctive feature of Bengali culture. Today, artists from Kumartuli work as far afield as Assam in order to make a living and a centre of clay image making has grown up in the south of the city around Kalighat near the great Kali temple.
There are about 200 studios in Kumartuli which serve as both workplace and home. An average studio is a 'fenced-off' space with an earthen floor. The walls are often wooden boards held together with rope. Tin and matting make up the roof. Electric lighting is minimal, and the bulbs are low wattage. Most of the kumars sit on the floor to work with the odd wooden stool or chair for customers and other visitors. During festival time the alleyways of Kumartuli are packed with images drying in the sun. It is cramped and poorly-drained and a relatively small area in the north of the city.
The potters who make these images are called kumars and they often have the surname Pal or Paul. Their work is seasonal and they use clay from local rivers such as the Hooghly in Calcutta or from Uluberia, a village nearby. Their patrons are wealthy families, individuals, clubs and businesses and they work to commission as well as selling images on the open market. For larger images such as those of Durga, a variety of artists contribute their skills to the completed image including the mali who does the decorations and the patua who paints the backdrop or chal chitra.
The clay images of West Bengal are sun-baked images made using straw figures on a wooden framework as their base. They are not terracotta or fired in any way. In fact there is a religious ban on using terracotta images for worship that has existed ever since image worship became popular. These images are therefore more appropriately called terracruda or raw clay, rather than terracotta, baked clay.
The traditional style of images is strongly regional but current demand for innovation means that a wide variety of images are made, constantly adapting and changing this style, often experimenting with new materials and methods. Demand from Bengalis living in Europe and America means that some images are exported abroad and used in festivals across the world.