Usta art

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Usta art is a generic term used for the media of Naqqashi and Manoti art practiced by Usta artisans from the erstwhile Bikaner State in present-day Rajasthan, India. Naqqashi and Manoti is characterised by painting miniature translucent and opaque watercolour and oil based floral patterns on objects, camel leather, and architectural elements with gold. Naqqashi are items that are unembossed gold layers and Manoti are items that are embossed gold layers. The art of Naqqashi and Manoti flourished between the late-16th to mid-19th century in the Bikaner State. By the mid-20th Century Hisam-ud-din Usta was the only artisan remaining who understood the secrets to this proprietory Usta art. Hisam-ud-din Usta trained one member of his immediate family in the art of Naqqashi and Manoti, his grandson Jamil Usta, and a few other members of the Bikaner Usta community. Jamil Usta and a few other members of the Usta family presently still produce Naqqashi and Manoti art objects in Bikaner city.

Usta is a professional caste of artists, and the word Usta derives from the Persian word of ustad, meaning master or skilled person.