Pottery Traditions of Pakistan
By Nabahat Lotia
Le Topical (Pvt) Ltd
ISBN: 978-969-712-148-9
307pp.

I have often heard that water from an earthen container, clay matka or pitcher is sweeter and just the right temperature of cool, that food cooked in a glazed clay handi tastes better than food cooked in a metal pot. And also that naan or breads baked in a clay tandoor are always preferred over tawa chapati.

The handsome coffee-table book Pottery Traditions of Pakistan is an endorsement on all those claims and more. Its author, Nabahat Lotia, a celebrated Karachi-based studio potter and ceramist, whose roots trace back to Lahore and Delhi, talks about the traditions of pottery, as also suggested by the book’s title. Nabahat’s love for pottery drove her to learn the basics of the art and how it was and came to be practised in different cultures of Pakistan.

Some years after getting married and settling down in Karachi for a bit after graduating from the National College of Arts, she found herself back in Lahore in the late 1980s, due her architect husband’s posting there, and looking for local potters.

Her search brought her to a place on the outskirts of Lahore called Qainchi where the main road split into two, like a scissor’s blades, hence the name. The place was a hub of clayworks such as flower pots, roof tiles, tandoors, and vessels of utility, such as cooking pots, matkas, pitchers, jugs, bowls etc.

A coffee-table book by a celebrated potter and ceramist delves into the art of earthenware across Pakistan and the artisans behind the creations

Nabahat got to closely study the work of Ustad Ramzan, among the last breed of traditional potters or kumhars, here. The ustad [master] created masterpieces while working with simple indigenous tools and methods, although he was also open to innovation to boost production. The book doesn’t just discuss clayworks, it also talks of the clay preparation, the tools and techniques used in creating pottery.

There is the potter’s wheel that revolutionised pottery-making the world over. Thanks to it, handmade pots could be mass-produced in less time. The author talks about three different kinds of traditional potter wheels — the manual pit or kick-wheel, for which one needs to dig a pit for placing the base of the wheel; the electric wheel, where the wheel is powered by electricity to make it spin faster; and the single, where the spinning wheel itself is also the working surface.

Nabahat has painstakingly documented the traditional craftsmanship of potters, said to be a dying art now. It is a coffee-table book, yes, but it is also a complete textbook on pottery. The gorgeous photographs accompanying the text are as good as visual aids, as they showcase the various techniques used in creating clay objects.

Learning about handis, handi lids, tandoors, matkas, pitchers, jugs, flower pots, clay toys, jhanva [clay pumice] and even bricks in Punjab, you are also introduced to several other master craftsmen of the likes of Ustad Mohammad Siddique, who had worked in London, UK, for a professor of ceramics at an art university.

Ustad Allah Ditta, who came from a line of traditional potters known for making kaghzi piyala [paper-thin bowls] and kuza gari [pitcher crafting], is another master of his craft.

The book also pays tribute to the Indus Valley Civilisation, Harappan pottery and terracotta figurines. Here you are introduced to Ustad Nawaz, a potter who, through his craft, is reviving ancient Harappan forms and designs of pottery and clayworks.

From appreciating earthen shades and forms, we are led to the traditional art of painting on ceramics, known as kashikari. Artisans are seen painstakingly drawing on vases, trays, pots etc, before filling oxide colours into the drawings to bring out the delicate designs.

In Multan, you meet Ustad Mohammad Wajid, whose father Ustad Allah Divaya and grandfather Ustad Hasan Bakhsh were also master-craftsmen of kashikari like himself and worked on the restoration of tombs and mosques in Multan. Ustad Wajid makes traditional geometric blue and white designs on tiles, tombstones, frames, tabletops and vases, before coating them with clear glaze and firing them.

Glazed craft is a specialty of Sindh and the book takes you to Ustad Muhammad Yaqoob’s workshop in Sehwan, where the floor of the entrance room is crammed with hundreds of glazed decorative items, such as jewellery boxes, ashtrays and hollow animal figurines, such as hens and ducks for storing eggs, or giraffes, camels and horses for use as vases. The technique of producing these in the Ustad’s wood/coal-fired kiln or bhatti has been discussed in detail.

Other provinces are visited too. In Quetta, Balochistan, you get to visit the underground kilns, soaking pits for dried clay lumps and the fruits of the labour at Ustad Sardar’s workshop. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, you come to admire the clay tawa for baking roti or flatbread at Ustad Israr’s workshop in Mansehra. There are also tall water-storage vessels and the clay lota for toilets in Nowshera.

As the author mentions, “Pottery traditions in Pakistan have been diverse, with each region showcasing distinct styles, techniques and decorations.” Her book is a talk, lecture and travelogue of all these traditions, which also bring you closer to the material of your own creation.

The reviewer is a business consultant

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 10th, 2024