1 / 11Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with world leaders as part of the G7 Summit held in Germany. PM Modi not only held dialogue with heads of visiting nations, but presented them with unique handcrafted gifts from India. The gifts range from Gulabi Meenakari, black pottery, ittar, Kashmiri carpet and many more. These gifts highlight Indian culture, art and craftsmanship. Let's take a look at some of the gifts that the Indian PM presented these global leaders. (Image: Government of India)
2 / 11Indian hand-knotted silk carpet handed to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau | Hand-knotted silk carpets are famous across the world for their softness and craftsmanship. A Kashmiri Silk carpet is known for its beauty, perfectness, lushness and dedicated craftsmanship. Each Kashmiri Silk carpet is considered to be a never-before-seen piece of hand-made. The Kashmiri silk carpets are made predominantly in the Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. These exquisite creations are hand-knotted on warp threads, one at a time, in accordance with a strict code of colours so that their peculiar patterns evolve. Often the colours tend to have a day-and-night variation in shades that seem to impart an illusion of viewing two carpets. (Image source: Government of India)
3 / 11Lacquerware Ram Durbar to Indonesian President Joko Widodo | The GI-tagged lacquerware art form has its roots in the temple town of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The wooden statues of gods, goddesses and sacred animals serve as souvenirs for pilgrims. The process of making these is tedious, requires assembly of a base wooden form with separate limbs, which are covered layer-by-layer with distemper or lac-based paint. Lacquerware items always come in bright, jewel tones. This particular piece is made on Goolar (Botanical name: Ficus Racemosa) wood. The principal characters in the artwork are Shri Ram, Goddess Sita, Lord Hanuman and Jatayu. (Image: Govt. of India)
4 / 11Moonj baskets and cotton durries handed to Senegal's President Macky Sall | In Senegal, the tradition of hand-weaving has passed down from mother to daughter, adding to its importance as a vehicle for cultural expression and family livelihood. The same is done in Prayagraj, Sultanpur and Amethi districts of Uttar Pradesh, where Moonj Saccharum Bengalense is now acting as a sustainable source of income for rural women. Like Senegalese baskets, Moonj craft also utilizes bright, jewel-tone colours. This particular piece is by a master craftswoman from Prayagraj. The blades of the sarpat grass used here are much thinner, making them more difficult to weave. The cotton Durries are hand woven in Sitapur district. The beauty of this particular piece is the thin width of its loom which increases the work out into the durrie threefold. (Image: Government of India)
5 / 11Metal Marodi carving matka to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz | This nickel coated, hand-engraved brass vessel is a masterpiece from Moradabad, which is also famous as the Peetal Nagari or “brass city” of India. After casting the pot, the design that has to be engraved is first sketched on paper. An outline of the whole design is done with a fine engraving tool hammered with a wooden block. This particular type of engraving is called Marodi, owing to the curved lines used to fill up negative space in this design. The importance of the engraving craft of Moradabad is in its ability to elevate items of everyday use into objects of intrigue. (Image: Government of India)
6 / 11Platinum coated hand-painted tea set to UK PM Boris Johnson | Encased here is a tea set from Bulandshahar district of Uttar Pradesh. The base form is hand-painted and fired at 1200 degrees Celsius. The embossed outlines are laid on manually with Mehndi cone work and requires an extremely confident hand. Each shape is then separately filled with colour, with great dexterity and the entire cup is fired again. The crockery has been outlined with platinum metal paint in honour of Her Majesty the Queen’s platinum jubilee being celebrated this year. (Image: Government of India)
7 / 11Nandi-themed Dokra Art to Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández | Dokra Art is non–ferrous metal casting art using the lost-wax casting technique. This sort of metal casting has been used in India for over 4,000 years and is still used. There are two main processes of lost wax casting: solid casting and hollow casting. The product of artisans who are mainly from Central and Eastern India are in great demand in domestic and foreign markets because of their primitive simplicity. This particular art piece from Chhattisgarh is a figure of ‘Nandi – The Meditative Bull’. Nandi is considered the vehicle (mount) of Lord Shiva, according to Hindu mythology. In front of every Shiva temple, on the court facing the shrine, you can see a statue of Nandi. (Image: Government of India)
8 / 11Gulabi Meenakari brooch and cufflink set to US President Joe Biden | Gulabi Meenakari is a GI-tagged art form of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. A piece of pure silver is moulded into a base form, and the chosen design is embossed in the metal. The embossed shapes are then filled with great dexterity with crushed meena glass mixed with an intriguing natural anardana (pomegranate seeds) glue. This is then fired to transform into a translucent coloured patch. What distinguishes it from other meenakari is the layer of white meena which acts as an opaque canvas for hand-painted motifs. The paint is fired layer by layer for permanence. The motifs primarily use the colour pink (Gulabi), which lends its name to the craft. These cufflinks were prepared for the President with a matching brooch for the First Lady. (Image: Government of India)
9 / 11Dokra Art with Ramayana Theme to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa | Like the Nandi-themed Dokra handed over the Argentinian president, this particular art piece from Chhattisgarh is based on the Ramayan theme. The principal characters in the artwork are Lord Shri Ram riding an Elephant along with Lakshman, Goddess Sita and Lord Hanuman. (Image: Government of India)
10 / 11Attar bottles in zardozi box to French President Emmanuel Macron | The carrier box of these unique ittar bottles have been been crafted in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The Zari Zardozi box has been hand embroidered on khadi silk and satin in the colours of the French National Flag. The motifs are traditional Indo-Persian, lotus flowers hand-embroidered with metal wire in blue and a pendant used in Kashmiri carpets and motifs from Awadhi architecture. This box includes Attar Mitti - a unique attar produced in Kannauj, India where Petrichor - the fresh odour of the first rain coming on Earth is captured over sandalwood oil. It has an earthy wet natural aroma, produced by the 5000-year-old traditional deg and bhapka method by distilling especially selected baked soil over Sandalwood oil. Other items in the box include, Jasmine Oil, Attar Shamama, Attar Gulab, Exotic Musk and liquid Garam Masala. (Image: Government of India)
11 / 11Marble Inlay table top to Italian PM Mario Draghi | Pietra dura or marble inlay has its origins in Opus sectile - a form of pietra dura popularised in the ancient and medieval Roman world where materials were cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make a picture or pattern. This marble table top with Inlay work has its origin in Agra. This particular table top is made of semi-precious stones with gradients in their colour, making it very similar to Italian marble inlay work. The delicate process involves cutting and engraving of semi-precious stones on marble manually. Small pieces of different semi-precious stones are then cut delicately and are slipped into grooves, making the simple marble item a beautiful and colourful masterpiece of art. (Image: Government of India)
