{"product_id":"very-rare-brass-die-for-an-indian-imitation-venetian-zecchino-c-19th-century-india","title":"Rare brass die for an imitation Venetian zecchino, c.18-19th century, Maharashtra, India","description":"\u003cp\u003eIndia, probably Maharashtra, c. 18th–19th century, brass jeweller’s die for a putali imitating the obverse of a Venetian zecchino. 21mm long, 25mm die face, 88.5 grams. Showing signs of extensive use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eObverse of a Venetian zecchino\/ducat: the kneeling Doge is at left and standing St Mark at right, with the long staff\/banner between them. The surrounding inscription has become largely pseudo-Latin, decorative strokes, which is typical of Indian putali dies rather than an attempt to reproduce a particular Venetian ruler accurately. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat is especially interesting is that the design is still relatively close to the Venetian prototype - the two figures have not yet been fully transformed into obviously Hindu deities. Indian goldsmiths retained dies of precisely this general sort for striking putalis used in necklaces; documented examples were handed down within families of sonars.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVery rare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGenuine Venetian ducats had reached India in large quantities through maritime trade and were particularly popular in western and southern India because of their dependable gold content. The Venetian coins and their early Indian imitations functioned more like actual money, but the later examples saw mostly jewellery\/devotional use. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, their imagery had acquired a life of its own, and Indian goldsmiths began producing local imitations after the supply of genuine Venetian pieces diminished. In Maharashtra these pieces became known as putalis and were principally used as jewellery and religious amulets, especially in \u003cem\u003eputali haar\u003c\/em\u003e necklaces. There is unusually good evidence for their manufacture: ethnographic research in Nashik found goldsmiths still possessing old hand-cut dies inherited from their fathers and grandfathers and using them to strike putalis for jewellery. The European imagery was gradually reinterpreted in Hindu terms: St Mark and the kneeling Doge could become Rama and Sita or Radha and Krishna, while Christ in the mandorla could be understood as another Hindu deity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe practice was geographically widespread and varied in meaning. In Kerala and southern India the pieces were known by names including \u003cem\u003esanar kasu (\"goldsmith's kasu\")\u003c\/em\u003e, villu kasu and amada. Syrian Christian women in Travancore also wore genuine or imitative Venetian pieces as religious medals, while elsewhere they formed coin necklaces and could be associated with dowries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe best scholarly reference for this is Emilia Smagur, “Ethnoarchaeology of foreign coins in India: reinterpreting Venetian ducat design, and implications for archaeonumismatics,” Antiquity 97 (2023), which actually illustrates Indian putali dies and the process of striking them. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NumisMall","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51563062296891,"sku":"xv818d-w61794","price":199.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0447\/1750\/6710\/files\/w61794a_d9c0e9b0-a9fa-4b2b-a077-fa266b66f1e0.jpg?v=1786986470","url":"https:\/\/www.numismall.com\/products\/very-rare-brass-die-for-an-indian-imitation-venetian-zecchino-c-19th-century-india","provider":"NumisMall","version":"1.0","type":"link"}