Pottery making had started in the very first years of inception of human civilisation.Blue pottery though is an art not more than two hundred years old. It traditionally hails from Persia. In India, blue pottery, it is believed, was an important craft of Delhi. The king of Rajasthan, Ram Singh II was a great art lover. He set up a school of art in Jaipur, and encouraged artisans and craftsmen to come and settle there. In this way, the art of blue pottery traveled to Jaipur. And under the patronage of the Maharaja, it became one of the most loved forms of art.

Blue pottery is called so because the color scheme is concentrated on the blue-green palette. The blue color is achieved by the oxidizing of cobalt, while the green from chromium and copper oxides. Recently, artisans have also started experimenting with other colors such as yellow (cadmium oxide), red-brown (iron oxide) and dark blue. Patterns are usually floral or arabesque, or of animals and birds.

The Creation of Blue Pottery
This exquisite pottery is made of a mixture of ground quartz, glass, borax and katira gum. This mixture is kneaded into dough with water, and is then molded. The product is molded in parts, and then joined. After this, it is handpainted. Cobalt oxide is used to create outlines. Other metal oxides are used to fill in the color. Thereafter, the product is dipped in clear glaze and fired once in a wooden kiln.

Blue pottery is an extremely delicate and sensitive form of pottery, because a ruined product cannot be reworked, and it is not possible to predict the result beforehand.

Blue Pottery finds its place in homes and offices, in hotels and restaurants, as ashtrays, tiles, flower pots, lamp shades, jars and decoration items.

Blue Pottery Trivia It is believed that Mughal kings used blue pottery to test their food. If the color of the glaze changed, they knew the food had been tampered with, and may be poisoned.