{"id":2833,"date":"2020-03-29T16:16:23","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T10:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=2833"},"modified":"2020-03-29T16:27:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T10:57:28","slug":"goynar-baksho-the-jewellery-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/goynar-baksho-the-jewellery-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Goynar Baksho: The jewellery box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>TEXT BY DEBOSMITA SAMANTA <br>PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEBOSMITA SAMANTA &amp; ARNAB N. BISWAS <\/strong><br><strong><em>Burdwan, West Bengal&nbsp;&amp; Hyderabad, Telangana, India<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I arrived in Hyderabad for MFA in 2010, and since then the city has become my second home. I visit my hometown Burdwan in West Bengal only once in a year, but each time I go, I manage to collect an heirloom or two to create my own personal ancestral archive. As of now, it includes a 150-year-old jewellery locker, old copper coins, a few utensils, and a Lakshmi idol, which I am told, is nearly 300 years old. I also have my <em>dida\u2019s <\/em>Benarasi saree that she wore on her wedding day in the year 1960. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another piece that has become a part of my collection is my maternal great-grandmother\u2019s jewellery box. Two years ago, my mother bequeathed this to me, retrieving it from the precious jewelery locker, quite happy to part with it, when she learnt of my small archive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"565\" height=\"760\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Locker.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2837\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?attachment_id=2837\" class=\"wp-image-2837\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Locker.jpg 565w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Locker-446x600.jpg 446w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 565px) 100vw, 565px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">the jewellery locker <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Painting-of-Nirmala-Devi-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2838\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Painting-of-Nirmala-Devi.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?attachment_id=2838\" class=\"wp-image-2838\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Painting-of-Nirmala-Devi-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Painting-of-Nirmala-Devi-450x600.jpg 450w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Painting-of-Nirmala-Devi.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">a painting of Nirmala Devi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I asked her about the box, she suggested I go to my maternal grandmother &#8211; or <em>dida <\/em>as I call her \u2013 Pratima Chatterjee.&nbsp; Since she lived nearby, so I made my way over the very same day to write the story down. Taking the box in her hands, she smiled and said <em>\u201cThik mone nei kobe kena, tobe amar biyer onek agei kinechhilen Maa Benaras theke.\u201d<\/em> She didn\u2019t remember exactly what year her mother-in-law bought the box in Benares, but knew that it was already in her possession before my grandmother\u2019s marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She gauged that it must have been somewhere around the year 1940. <em>Dida<\/em> described my great grandmother, Nirmala Devi, as a simple lady who mostly wore a traditionally Bengali saree in white with a red border. She was short and quite healthy, and received five kilograms of gold at her marriage. My great-grandfather, Mrityunjoy Chatterjee, belonged to a <em>zamindar <\/em>family of Shantipur, Nadia district, West Bengal, and worked as the head postmaster of the state. My great-grandma used the box until her death and then, interestingly, her son [and my maternal grandfather], Rabindranath Chatterjee, gifted the box to his wife, my <em>dida<\/em>, to use it as her jewellery box. <em>Dida<\/em> mentioned that for the longest time, she would store her daily-wear bangles in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3326-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2842\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?attachment_id=2842\" class=\"wp-image-2842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3326-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3326-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3326-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3326-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3326-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2843\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?attachment_id=2843\" class=\"wp-image-2843\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3321-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The box is made of brass<em>, peetal,<\/em> with beautiful Meenakari designs on it. Over time, the colour has oxidized to reveal many hues and discolouration across its surface. It is rectangular in shape and 6.3 inches x 3.5 inches in size. The base and sides of the box are lined with wood. On the lid, there is an interesting image of a lady sitting in a reclined pose, resting her right hand on a red pillow and left hand on top of her left knee. She appears to be from a rich family, possibly <em>zamindari, <\/em>and her confident gaze often reminds me of Edouard Manet\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Olympia_(Manet)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Olympia (opens in a new tab)\">Olympia<\/a>, painted in 1863. Her saree is a combination of bright orange, balanced by light pink and green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This image quite naturally matched to the image that I created of Nirmala Devi in my mind. After all, she was the daughter-in-law of a <em>zamindar<\/em> family. The single-line drawing of the woman is composed inside an oval frame, making it a prominent, imposing sight. It is highlighted further with the bold use of yellow paint around the frame, and pale violet underneath, painted as a mat that she appears to be seated on. Even though the colours have faded, one can almost imagine the vibrant look of the box when it had been newly bought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3288-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3288-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3288-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3288-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3288-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3288-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Meenakari designs run intricately across the top and along the sides of the box, in yellow, dark red and gold. But perhaps the most intriguing thing about this box is my great grandmother\u2019s name, Nirmala Devi, engraved in Bengali on the bottom. <em>Dida <\/em>had stopped using this box a long time ago, but kept in safe in the nearly 150-year-old family locker. This single story led to so many other stories of Chatterjee family being revealed. After my grandfather\u2019s death in 2007, <em>dida<\/em> opened her locker to divide her belongings among her five children and luckily this box came to my mother, <em>dida<\/em>\u2019s eldest daughter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that this box is in my possession, it feels like I own a special part of my maternal grandparents\u2019 history. It feels wonderful to witness an object being used generation after generation. I got married a year ago, and along with other presents, I received newer looking jewellery boxes. But perhaps nothing can match the beauty and delicacy of this heirloom box. Continuing the tradition, I too use it to keep jewellery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2850\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?attachment_id=2850\" class=\"wp-image-2850\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3672-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2862\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/goynar-baksho-the-jewellery-box\/mg_3769\/\" class=\"wp-image-2862\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3769-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"2864\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-scaled.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/goynar-baksho-the-jewellery-box\/mg_3747\/\" class=\"wp-image-2864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-400x600.jpg 400w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MG_3747-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My grandmother gauged that this box was bought somewhere around the year 1940 in Benaras. My great-grandma used the box until her death and then, her son [and my maternal grandfather], gifted the box to his wife, my grandmother, to use it as her jewellery box. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[66,295,467,23,468,466,465,271],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2833"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2867,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2833\/revisions\/2867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}