Jaipur Blue Pottery
Persian-blue glazed pottery that contains no clay at all.
Jaipur blue pottery is a low-fired glazed ceramic whose body is made not from clay but from a dough of ground quartz, powdered glass, borax, gum and water. Pieces — plates, bowls, vases, jars, tiles, coasters, door knobs, soap dishes and animal figures — are painted with cobalt blue and copper turquoise on a white ground, sometimes with brown, green or yellow, and covered in a soft, glassy glaze. Because the body has no clay, it cannot be thrown on a wheel and is instead pressed into moulds or hand-shaped.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Jaipur, Rajasthan
Also Known As
Jaipur blue pottery, Multani work, fritware, stonepaste ceramic
Craft Type
Quartz-body glazed pottery (fritware / stonepaste)
Practising Community
Kumhar and Muslim potter families of Jaipur, several trained in the Kripal Singh Shekhawat lineage
Materials
Quartz powder, powdered glass, borax (suhaga), a small amount of multani mitti and katira gum for the body; cobalt and copper oxides and other metal colours; and a glass-based glaze.
Known For
Cobalt-and-turquoise glazed tiles, plates, vases, jars and door knobs on a white ground
Where It's Made
Jaipur city — Kot Jewar, Sanganer and the workshops around the old city — and Mahua ka Bagh, Rajasthan
Time to Create
One to two weeks per batch, including drying and a single low firing
GI Status
Blue Pottery of Jaipur is a registered GI of Rajasthan
Process Steps
Mixing the body
Quartz powder, powdered glass, borax, a clay-free binder and water are kneaded into a stiff, short, crumbly paste.
Shaping
The paste is pressed into plaster moulds or hand-formed, since it cannot be thrown on a wheel.
Drying and smoothing
The formed pieces are dried in the sun and their surfaces rubbed and smoothed.
Applying the white slip
A coat of white quartz slip is brushed on to give a clean ground for the painting.
Painting
Designs are painted freehand with cobalt and copper oxide colours — florals, birds, arabesques and geometric borders.
Glazing
A powdered-glass glaze is applied over the painted, slipped piece.
Single firing
The piece is fired once at low temperature so the body and glaze fuse together into the finished ware.
Technique Glossary
Fritware (stonepaste)
Pottery with a body of fused silica and glass rather than clay, developed in the medieval Islamic world.
Suhaga (borax)
A flux mixed into the body and glaze to lower the melting point so a low firing works.
Naqqashi
The freehand painting of the blue-and-turquoise designs before glazing.
Katira gum
A plant gum used as the binder that holds the non-plastic body together for shaping.
Copper turquoise
The blue-green colour produced by copper oxide under the glaze, alongside cobalt blue.
Plaster mould
The absorbent mould into which the crumbly body is pressed, since it cannot be wheel-thrown.
Single (raw) firing
Firing an unfired, glazed piece once, so body and glaze mature together — quick but leaving the ware fragile.
A Craft Through Time
12th–15th century
Islamic fritware
Glazed quartz-body pottery is developed in Persia and Central Asia, using ground stone and glass instead of scarce fine clay.
Mughal era
The technique reaches India
Glazed tile and vessel work enters India through Mughal contact with Persia and is made at Delhi.
Early 19th century
Arrival in Jaipur
Sawai Ram Singh II establishes a blue-pottery workshop in the city and brings in craftsmen.
Mid-20th century
Near extinction
The craft dwindles to a few practitioners after Independence.
1960s onward
Revival
Kripal Singh Shekhawat, backed by Gayatri Devi and craft bodies, revives and modernises the ware.
2000s
Geographical Indication
Blue Pottery of Jaipur is registered as a GI of Rajasthan.
Present
A Jaipur signature
Blue pottery is one of the city's best-known crafts, made by many workshops for homeware and tiles.
Did You Know?
Jaipur blue pottery is one of the very few ceramics in the world made with no clay — the body is essentially ground stone and glass held together with gum.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.