Anglo (Mis)representations of Indian Craft: The Importance of the Object

Much of the literature on craft in India has centered upon the representation of the artisan and his body or upon the statistical evidence of his output, particularly textiles.  There has been little attempt to employ interdisciplinary artifactual analysis to probe craft practice in South Asia and develop a fuller sense of exchange, adaptation, and cultural values that steps outside the colonial or post-colonial discourse.  This paper will begin with a close reading of Arthur William Devis’s 1792 drawing of a Bengali potter at work to point out the way in which the artist depicted what his experiences in English potteries had conditioned him to see.  I will then proceed to use objects to address what he missed. Such a consideration of material culture, the evidence of processes and materials and an awareness of the object’s circulation, opens new avenues to explore Indian artisans.