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Ring in the old!
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Old paintings and artefacts make a new statement in interiors, finds Aparna Karthikeyan
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ANTIQUES ATTRACT Past gets a present in many homes
Yes, you read it right! For this jolly season, it's not the `bright and beautiful' that's hogging the limelight, but all that's tarnished, burnished, chipped and flaking - the antiques! What were, not so long ago, condemned as `junk' and banished to the darkest, mustiest corners of the attic are now lovingly polished and displayed on centre-tables. Bronze `vaddanam' boxes squat smugly where imitation Versace vases once haughtily stood, while `urulis' resplendent with lazily floating candles and flowers regularly greet visitors in many homes and hotels. Ravi Varma prints and Tanjore paintings - and not just impressions of Gods and Goddesses - gracefully lend `character' to houses, while women swoon over the same necklaces they once dismissed as showy dance-jewellery!
"We gave away our filigreed bronze lantern for a pittance. And now my daughter, an interior-designer, berates me and says the lantern would've done beautifully as a corner-piece," says Bharathi Krishnan.
Picture perfect
South Indian homes often had a cuddly Krishna in the pooja, depicted in the Tanjore style, merrily polishing off pats of butter. "Eight Tanjore paintings from my great-grandfather's times adorned our ancestral house. But when we shifted to the city in 1984, we left them at a Hanuman temple. Little did we know that they would be in such demand today," reminisces T. Bhanumathi of her lost legacy. Tanjore paintings have now flooded the market; but not all of them are worth the astronomical asking price.
"Old paintings were done on a teak-board, using vegetable dyes. Now, they're substituted with ply and poster colours. Moreover, there are fakes that masquerade as antiques, and are regrettably sold to a gullible public at phenomenal rates," explains Madhu, who runs an art gallery.
Raja Ravi Varma, the painter prince, whose work frequently featured in calendars of yesteryear, was an equally popular wall-adornment. "We have three Ravi Varma prints, easily over 80 years old, decorated by my grand-aunt with muslin and embellished with zari. Recently, we had them re-framed (at Lakshana) and it now occupies the pride-of-place in our house," says S. Muralidharan, an executive.
Madhu recalls the days when Ravi Varma prints were available for Rs. 2. "Now, they are sold for Rs. 2,000," he laughs. "Thirty-five years ago, we melted down my ornate, heavy `vaddanam' to make `new' jewellery for my daughter's wedding. How I wish we had preserved my mother's exquisite headgear like `chaamanthi billa' for it's currently fashionable to transform them into classy neckpieces," rues Lakshmi Ramamurthy.
Ashok Kumar of Jugal Kishore Jewellers says that earlier people recklessly melted down peerless heirlooms. "Now, our handcrafted, ruby-encrusted jewels are world-famous. Antique re-productions are very popular, but with the spiralling demand, the stones are getting scarce," he says.
"Complaining that grandfather clocks take up half a wall, and that their children hate winding them up, some people sadly get rid of them," says Lateef, proprietor of an old curiosity shop. "But instead of selling or dumping them, they could consider re-conditioning them," he advises, as there is a discerning clientele that's hankering after the stately clocks. Old Rolex watches, Rolleiflex cameras, along with the rest of the antique-bandwagon fetch incredible prices from wealthy collectors.
Be it a rosewood desk that formerly graced the grandfather's study or a `maghari' that belonged to the great-grandmother, there is a lot of sentiment and emotion imbued into every venerable piece.
"India's forte lies in its ancient handcrafted traditions. Our so-called `modern' designs aren't too hot in the West," says Ashok Kumar, adding that people even want old designs re-produced from photographs. As the popular saying goes `grandma bought it, mother sold it, and now I'm buying it back', vintage stuff has come full-circle - back into the elegant living rooms.
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