Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 6. (Budapest, 1963)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Tóth, Edit: Water-Pots with Gujarati Inscriptions in the Museum

the same. The vessel presented in Fig. 4, dated to the second half of the 17th century, shows only a single difference against the former ones: the lack of the thin ribbon, soldered separately to the support as a stand-ring. In our opinion this form was a carry-over from the shape of the earlier, cast water-pots (Fig. 16). The transition to hammering had a number of advantages against the cumbersome casting; the production of the vessel became simpler, less material was necessary, and the weight of the object decreased. The new technique caused some changes in the form. In our later specimens the stand-ring is supplanted by a truncated cone-shaped pedestal, the concave arch of the shoulder disappears, the vessel takes the shape of a flattened sphere, the neck becomes narrower, the woven ring decorating the neck widens (Fig. 16). A more copious comparative material is necessary in order to define the exact date of this change. We are aware that a typological and chronological attempt to solve the problems, raised by the changes of the lotä-s, on the basis of the few available specimens, would be too bold a venture. As we mentioned before, we limited our study to the task of furnishing some data for an adequate treatment of this interesting group of Indian metallurgy.