Pembarthi Brassware: Telangana's Repoussé Temple Art

The story

Pembarthi is a village in Telangana whose name has been synonymous with sheet-brass artistry for centuries. The craft flourished under the Kakatiya dynasty, whose temple-building programme across the Deccan created steady demand for embossed metal: cladding for temple doors, panels for processional chariots, kalasams and palace ornament. Pembarthi's Vishwakarma artisans — the hereditary community of smiths and temple craftsmen — answered with a style of repoussé that is unusually fine and lacy: sheets of brass raised into scrolling creepers, deities, yalis, peacocks and lotus medallions that catch light along every ridge. When temple patronage thinned after the Kakatiyas, the craft adapted rather than died, turning its vocabulary to vases, deepams, jewellery boxes, plaques and architectural trim, and later to mementoes and interior panels. The work remains concentrated in family workshops in the village itself, where designs are still drawn freehand and raised entirely by hammer and punch. Among Indian brass traditions Pembarthi stands apart for its commitment to sheet metal over casting — the artisan thinks in surfaces, not volumes — and for relief work so detailed it is often mistaken for filigree at first glance.

How it is made

Pembarthi work is repoussé on brass sheet. The artisan anneals the sheet to soften it, transfers or draws the design, then sets the metal face-down on a bed of lac or pitch that yields under the hammer without letting the sheet tear. Working from the back with punches of many profiles, the smith raises the design in relief; the sheet is then reversed and chased from the front to crispen outlines, texture backgrounds and add fine interior detail. Deep pieces may be annealed and worked through several cycles. Finished panels are cleaned with tamarind or mild acid, polished, and either mounted on wood, formed into objects such as deepams and boxes, or fitted as architectural cladding.

Buying guide

Look at the back if you can: hand-raised repoussé shows the recessed negative of the front design, with visible hammer and punch marks, while die-stamped copies are uniform and shallow. Relief on genuine Pembarthi work is deep, sharp-edged and slightly irregular in its most detailed passages. Small deepams and boxes typically start around ₹1,000–2,500; large embossed panels, temple-style doors and elaborate showpieces range up to ₹40,000 depending on size and density of work.

Care

Dust with a soft cloth, using a soft brush for the deep relief where grime settles. Uncoated brass will mellow with age; restore shine with a mild brass polish applied sparingly and buffed out of the recesses. Keep mounted panels away from damp walls, and avoid harsh chemicals that can streak the raised surfaces.

Frequently asked questions