Marble Craft

Crafting beautiful artifacts and items of utility from Marble has been a skill coming down the centuries, the greatest evidence of which is stunningly visible in the Taj Mahal and other Mughal monuments of the time as well as at the Jain temples in the north and western parts of India. Of these, marble inlay craft is one of the oldest forms of craft from Uttar Pradesh. First a predefined pattern, like a floral or geometrical design is engraved on the marble slab. After this, small pieces of marble of different shades are cut delicately to precisely fit and are slipped into these grooves. Apart from marble, other stones are also used to adorn the marble inlay spaces. The origins of Inlay work can be traced back to Italy around the end of the 16th century. The craft known as "Pietra Dura" translates to 'hard' (dura) and 'stone' (pietra). This beautiful craft found its way to the resplendent Mughal courts of the Emperors in faraway India.