G7 concludes: Carved matka, itr bottles, tea set, carpet. Here's everything PM Modi gifted to world leaders
G7 summit: The gifts presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi displayed India's rich art and crafts, particularly those related to Uttar Pradesh's one district one product scheme.
G7 summit: The G7 (Group of Seven developed economies) summit wrapped up on Tuesday. The summit intended to send a strong signal of long-term commitment to Ukraine's future, also ensuring that Russia pays a higher price for its invasion. The G7 also attempted to alleviate a global hunger crisis and showed unity against climate change.
Post the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented various gifts to the leaders. The gifts displayed India's rich art and crafts, particularly, those related to Uttar Pradesh's one district one product scheme.
His gifts included a hand-knotted carpet, carved matka, itr bottles, tea set, brooch and cufflinks.
Here's what PM Narendra Modi gifted to whom
1. Metal Marodi carving matka to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: This nickel-coated, hand-engraved brass vessel is a masterpiece from Moradabad, also known as the Peetal Nagari or "brass city" of Uttar Pradesh. The design on such matkas first needs to be engraved on paper. An outline of the whole design is done with a fine engraving tool hammered with a wooden block. This particular type of engraving is called Marodi, owing to the curved lines used to fill up negative space in this design.
2. Gulabi Meenakari brooch, cufflink set to Biden: Gulabi Meenakari is a GI-tagged art form of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. A piece of pure silver is moulded into a base form and the chosen design is embossed in the metal. The embossed shapes are then filled with great dexterity with crushed meena glass mixed with an intriguing natural anardana (pomegranate seeds) glue. The motifs primarily use the colour pink (Gulabi), which lends its name to the craft. These cufflinks were prepared for the president with a matching brooch for the First Lady, Jill Biden.
3. Platinum-painted, hand-painted tea set to Boris Johnson: The crockery is outlined with platinum metal paint in honour of the Queen's platinum jubilee being celebrated this year. The base form is hand-painted and fired at 1200 degrees Celsius. The embossed outlines are laid on manually with Mehndi cone work and require an extremely confident hand. Each shape is then separately filled with colour, with great dexterity and the entire cup is fired again.
4. Itr bottles to French President Emmanuel Macron: The carrier box has been crafted in Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. The zari zardozi box has been hand embroidered on khadi silk and satin tissue in colours of the French National Flag. The motifs are traditional Indo-Persian, lotus flowers hand-embroidered with metal wire in blue and a pendant used in Kashmiri carpets and motifs from Awadhi architecture. This box included Attar Mitti, Jasmine oil, Attar Shamama, Attar Gulab, Exotic Musk and Garam Masala.
5. Silk carpets to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: These carpets are famous all over the world for their softness and craftsmanship. A Kashmiri Silk carpet is known for its beauty, perfectness, lushness, luxury and dedicated craftsmanship. Each Kashmiri Silk carpet is considered to be a never-before-seen piece of hand-made art. The Kashmiri silk carpets are made predominantly in the Srinagar area of Jammu and Kashmir. These exquisite creations are hand-knotted on the warp threads, one at a time, in accordance with a strict code of colours in the order of their appearance in the pattern. The knotted product is clipped with shears to smoothness and then treated with several brightening processes. Characteristically, all silk carpets have an amazingly innate attribute of displaying different colours when viewed from different angles or sides.
6. Black Pottery pieces to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida: The Black Pottery of Nizamabad in Uttar Pradesh uses a special technique to bring out black colours- while the pottery is inside the oven, it is ensured that there is no scope for oxygen to enter the oven and the heat level remains high. The presence of oxygen can turn the pottery red. The glaze on the pottery comes from the high zinc content of the soil and the layer of mustard oil applied before firing the pottery.
7. Marble inlay table top to Italian PM Mario Draghi: Pietra dura or Marble inlay has its origins in the Opus sectile- a form of pietra dura popularized in the ancient and medieval Roman world where materials were cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make a picture or pattern. This marble table top with Inlay work has its origin in Agra of Taj Mahal fame. This particular table top is made of semi-precious stones with gradients in their colour, making it very similar to Italian marble inlay work. Stones with colour gradients are harder to place, but make the inlay more realistic. The delicate process involves cutting and engraving semi-precious stones on marble manually. To start with, a pre-defined pattern e.g., a floral design or a geometrical design, is engraved on the marble item. Small pieces of different semi-precious stones are then cut delicately. These small pieces are then slipped into grooves, making the simple marble item a beautiful and colourful masterpiece of art.
8. Dokra Art with Ramayana Theme to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa: Dokra Art is non-ferrous metal casting art using the lost-wax casting technique. This sort of metal casting has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used. There are two main processes of lost wax casting: solid casting and hollow casting. The product of artisans who are mainly from Central and Eastern India are in great demand in domestic and foreign markets because of their primitive simplicity, enchanting folk motifs and forceful form. This particular art piece from Chattisgarh, a state in Central India, is based on the Ramayan theme. The principal characters in the artwork are Lord Shri Ram riding an Elephant along with Lakshman, Goddess Sita and Lord Hanuman.
9. Nandi-themed Dokra Art to Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez: Dokra Art is non-ferrous metal casting art using the lost-wax casting technique. This sort of metal casting has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used. There are two main processes of lost wax casting: solid casting and hollow casting. The product of artisans who are mainly from Central and Eastern India are in great demand in domestic and foreign markets because of their primitive simplicity, enchanting folk motifs and forceful form. This particular art piece from Chattisgarh, a state in Central India, is a figure of 'Nandi - The Meditative Bull'. According to Hindu mythology Nandi is considered the vehicle (mount) of Lord Shiva, the lord of destruction. In front of every Shiva temple, on the court facing the shrine, you can see the image of a Nandi.
10. Moonj baskets, cotton durries to Senegal's President Macky Sall: Moonj is a wonderful example of utilitarian handicrafts made with sustainably sourced material. Like Senegalese baskets, Moonj craft also utilizes bright, jewel-tone colours. This particular piece is by a master craftswoman from Prayagraj. The blades of the sarpat grass used here are much thinner, making them more difficult to weave. The cotton Durries are hand woven in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The art of Manjak loincloth weaving is similar to shuttle handloom work done in Sitapur durrie making. The beauty of this particular piece is the thin width of its loom which increases the work out into the Durrie threefold.
11. Lacquerware Ram Durbar to Indonesian President Joko Widodo: The GI-tagged lacquerware art-form has its roots in the temple town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The wooden statues of gods, goddesses and sacred animals served as coveted souvenirs taken back by pilgrims. The process is a tedious one, requiring assembly of a base wooden form with separate limbs, which is covered layered by layer with distemper or lac-based paint. True to their city of origin, Lacquerware items always come in bright, jewel tones. This particular piece is made on Goolar (Botanical name: Ficus Racemosa) wood. The principal characters in the artwork are Shri Ram, Goddess Sita, Lord Hanuman and Jatayu. It is believed that the Indonesian version of Ramayana was written during the Medang Kingdom (732-1006 AD) in Central Java. It is known as Kakawin Ramayana. The story of Ramayana was narrated to the people through shadow puppetry (wayang kulit and wayang purwa).