Kashmir Papier-Mâché

How a box is made

1. Pulp (kagaz). Old paper is soaked in water for a week, mashed with rice paste and gypsum, and pounded into a dough.
2. Moulding. The dough is pressed by hand onto a wooden or clay former and left to dry for several days.
3. Burnishing. The dry shell is sanded with horn or agate until silky-smooth — the smoother the base, the cleaner the paint job.
4. Base coat. Two thin coats of white tempera prepare the surface.
5. Painting (naqashi). The motif is drawn free-hand and filled in with mineral pigments. A 4-inch box can take two weeks; a museum- grade panel, months.
6. Lacquering. Twelve to fifteen coats of clear lacquer, each sanded between coats. The final surface is glass-smooth and the paint never touches a finger.

The craft arrived in Kashmir in the 14th century with the Persian mystic Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, who brought a school of naqash painters with him from Hamadan. By the Mughal era it was royal patronage; in the colonial era it became a cottage industry. Today authentic naqashi households are concentrated in downtown Srinagar in three or four old neighbourhoods.

The GI tag stops two things: machine-printed transfer patterns sold as "hand-painted", and acrylic pigments masquerading as mineral colour. An authentic piece — paint-stroke under glass — is unmistakable once you've seen one.