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Pressed - nose Dolls
The size
of this doll is 1-2 inches to 4 -5 inches. It is found in Tulsi
- berai, Tantiberai, Sariyala - Balipota, Antila and Kalikapur, Patihal and
Jagatballavpur in Howrah district, in Midnapore town and in Berachampa -
Debalaya. The dolls of Jagathballavpur and Midnapore town have blue and red
stripes on white coating.
Horse - riders with and without wheels : Average
height of the dolls is 4 to 5 inches.
Wheeled type is made in
Tantiberai and Bantul in Howrah district and in Berachampa.
Mother - Dolls :
Of all
the mother - dolls the most interesting and unique types are made by Bankura
potters. The types vary in different centres. Panchmura, Rajagram and
Sonamukhi which are the three principal centres of Bankura pottery produce
different type of mother - dolls. The dolls of Sonamukhi have red colour but the Panchmura dolls are generally black.
Dolls of Sonamukhi and
Rajagram have 'bonnets' also.
Dolls with Hip Jars
These are popularly known as 'Kalasi Kankhe Putul' or dolls with hip -
jars.' Housewives on the village roads with water filled earthen jars on
their hips in pleasant relaxing mood ' has been captured by the women potters and
shaped perfectly into the hip-jar dolls.
There are numerous representations of village life in dolls. The different
types of these dolls are hair - caring, milk - maid (Goalini), wheat-crusher,
horse - rider and elephant - rider. All these dolls are done by pressing
method and by women potters.
Of these, hair-caring is a peculiar type of doll which depicts a woman sitting in front
with her child sucking her breast and another woman from behind is caring her
hair. The size of the doll is about 5" x 6"x3". It has all
the qualities of sculpture and looks like a piece of wood-carving or
stone-carving.
Patua-made dolls
Patuas or Chitrakars are scroll-painters. Some types of clay dolls, figures
of deities and animals are made by women of Patua-caste in West Bengal in
Midnapore, Bankura, Howrah and 24 Parganas.
Silate (slate-like) dolls: These are like
plaques with holes for fixing
on walls. These are coloured dolls and the favourite colours are green, red and
blue.
Krishnanagar Pottery
Krishnanagar clay-modeling is about 250 years old and the potters of
Krishnanagar did not originally belong to their present locality. Krishnachandra,
the Maharaja of Krishnanagar in 1728 brought them from Dacca in East Bengal or
from Natore in North Bengal.
In Krishnanagar pottery the social scenes of our country and the people, the
different castes and racial types are reproduced realistically in clay-models. For
example social scenes like collectors court, tea garden, Pandit-Sabha, Charak
festival etc are used in clay modeling. This pottery is very popular and in most
of the international exhibitions held since 1851, Krishnanagar clay-models have
won medals and certificates and also great admiration from the people of Europe.
The prices were very high even one hundred years ago and one can easily imagine
its possible clientele today. The customers of these models used to be mainly
Europeans.
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