The Hindu : National : Fit for a monarch

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 11, 2005

National

National

Fit for a monarch

K. Satyamurty

EVIDENT CRAFTSMANSHIP: The silver chair on display. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: It may not be easy to lift this chair to sweep underneath. It weighs 315 kg and stands five feet tall.

The solid silver chair is the largest such article made so far by Barton, Son and Co, Bangalore's oldest silversmiths who have been in the business for a century. According to Bharat Mehta of Barton's, the design — "monarch's chair" — is from Britain. Not very different from the `simhasanas' of the maharajas.

``Once the design was approved by the customer, we had to cope with making it first out of wood and then breaking it into components that could be cast in silver... it was not an easy job,'' he says.

It took more than 15 craftsmen eight months of work. Some of the work had to be repeated to get it right; the chair had to be aligned properly — legs and armrests — so that it could stand well.

``The work had to be carried out quite fast as each component was cast, the silver had to be melted to 1100 degrees and not easy to handle. Then came to problem of joining the components. We thought of using steel nuts and bolts but the customer wanted everything in silver and we had to go along with that,'' Mr. Mehta adds.

Polishing the components was a difficult task; no workman could lift and keep it against a motorised polisher. As each piece weighed 15 kg or more, they had to resort to manual polishing. The back panel was fitted on Monday before the delivery to the customer on Tuesday morning.

The managing director of one of Bangalore's leading property developers and his son will be the proud owners of this silver chair.

The cost ? ``The silver alone costs around Rs. 35 lakhs,'' Mr Mehta says. The craftsmanship is of course priceless.

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