Parchin kari, or pietra dura in Italian, is the art of marble inlay, which involves carving out marble slabs and inserting precious and semiprecious stones to create elaborate floral and geometric patterns. One of the most famous and prominent examples of marble inlay is the Taj Mahal in India. The descendants of the 17th-century artisans who worked on the Taj Mahal still make a living today using the skills passed down from their ancestors. A community of these craftsmen is centered in Agra, just 300 feet from the Taj Mahal. But the number of artists who can create the most intricate artworks is in decline, down to around 3,000 from 10,000 over the last two decades.
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00:00This artist is mixing together a special glue
00:03using auraldite and zinc powder.
00:06It's one of the ways artists in India
00:08have updated the art of parchinkari,
00:12or marble inlay, since it was used 400 years ago
00:16to decorate the Taj Mahal.
00:19Artisans work with such small pieces,
00:21they say the strain can damage their eyesight,
00:24and the wear and tear on the skin
00:26causes them to lose their fingerprints.
00:29It's a very simple job.
00:33But now this work, which lines the walls
00:35of one of the world's most famous buildings,
00:38is in danger of disappearing.
00:41Today, artists make most of their money
00:43selling pieces to tourists visiting the Taj Mahal.
00:48But the COVID-19 pandemic weakened tourism
00:51and led to a steep decline in marble inlay artists.
00:55The job is also not as lucrative as it once was,
00:59forcing generations of younger artists
01:01to choose different career paths than their ancestors.
01:06We went to Agra in Uttar Pradesh, India
01:09to find out how parchinkari is still standing.
01:19Arif Ahmed is a direct descendant of artisans
01:22who decorated the Taj Mahal.
01:25His family is one of only a few
01:27left carrying on the marble inlay tradition in India.
01:38And that number could be even higher.
01:40According to some estimates,
01:42the number of marble inlay artisans in Agra
01:45has declined by up to 70% over the last two decades.
01:50For Arif, this work is a source of pride,
01:54and its disappearance would be devastating.
01:57He started learning the art of parchinkari from his father
02:00when he was just about 10 years old.
02:10His father, Hafiz Ahmed Khan,
02:12was granted the esteemed title of Shilp Guru
02:15by the Indian government
02:17and has won national awards for his marble work.
02:24Today, Arif is using many of the same tools,
02:26methods, and materials that his ancestors did,
02:31starting with high-quality marble sourced from Makrana,
02:34a small city near Jaipur, Rajasthan.
02:37It's durable, water-resistant, and has few impurities.
02:41It's also high in calcium,
02:43which gives it its pure white color.
02:48Varun Bansai has been working with Arif for about 15 years.
02:52He learned the marble craft from his father and grandfather.
02:56This same kind of marble was used
02:59to build the walls of the Taj Mahal.
03:03Varun and his team quarry raw slabs of marble
03:06and cut them using circular saws
03:08to separate the clean, usable chunks.
03:13Water helps cool the blade and reduce dust while they work.
03:21They then mold and carve the marble
03:23into tabletops of various shapes
03:25and sizes for the artisans.
03:29Finally, they deliver the finished marble
03:31to showrooms and to artisans like Arif.
03:37Today, Arif's team is designing an elephant sculpture
03:40made from Makrana marble,
03:42a popular souvenir among tourists visiting the Taj Mahal.
03:47Designers first cover the marble
03:49in brightly colored water-based acrylic paint
03:52so the patterns they draw stand out better
03:54against the white marble.
03:57They draw freehand designs
03:59directly onto the painted marble with a pencil.
04:03The designs can be quite complex,
04:05like this one with thousands of flower petals,
04:08leaves, and thin vines.
04:11The patterns are often inspired by the inlay
04:14on the Taj Mahal, which looms over the city of Agra.
04:19The Taj Mahal was built between 1631 and 1648
04:24under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.
04:26The marble was carried in using elephants from Jaipur.
04:31To decorate the walls,
04:32trained inlay workers were brought in from Persia.
04:36A debunked legend held that the Shah forced the artisans
04:40to have their hands cut off after they were finished
04:42so they couldn't replicate the beauty
04:44of the Taj Mahal anywhere else.
04:47Even though no one really lost their hands,
04:50Arif says Shah Jahan made sure the secrets of the art
04:53were protected in other ways.
05:04Many of the Persian artisans used their payment
05:06to put down roots in Agra,
05:09and thanks to their descendants,
05:10the city is still today a major producer of parchin kari.
05:17A parchin kari artist will eventually fill
05:19each of these outlined spaces
05:21with a small piece of precious or semi-precious stone
05:24chosen based on its color and aesthetics.
05:30While the marble comes from India,
05:32the stones are sourced from all over the world,
05:35including from Japan, Germany, and Iran.
05:51Artisans buy these stones from local shops
05:53where they're widely available.
05:55The more stones used in the design,
05:57the more expensive the final piece will be.
06:08Arif estimates a table like this
06:09would cost about 40,000 rupees, or $480.
06:14It also has lights installed beneath it
06:16to illuminate the stone.
06:21The size of the piece will also affect the price
06:23and increase the amount of time it takes to finish.
06:52The smaller, more detailed work,
06:54Arif describes as intoxicating work
06:57because it requires more time
06:59and intense concentration to get right.
07:11It takes half a day just to make one of these flowers.
07:22Arif says this work could damage his eyes from the strain
07:25if he does it for too many years.
07:27But choosing which stone goes where
07:29is one of his favorite stages of the creative process.
07:34When the designer is satisfied with their rough design,
07:37the artist traces it onto a sheet
07:39of translucent butter paper.
07:41They mark each tiny petal and leaf on the paper,
07:44like a massive and complex color by number,
07:47noting which stone is the most important.
07:51And which stone will be placed where.
08:00Then they retrace these shapes
08:02directly onto the flat, precious stones,
08:05with red or blue carbon paper placed in between.
08:09Cutting out these shapes requires a rotating wheel
08:12with very sharp, diamond-edged blades.
08:16Each blade lasts for only about three days.
08:19Depending on the hardness of the stone,
08:21they could wear out even faster.
08:34Updated technology like this
08:36has sped up the inlay process quite a bit
08:38since the days of the Taj Mahal.
08:46But some artisans, like Shafiq Uddin,
08:48still choose to use the tools of their ancestors,
08:52like this hand-operated pulley,
08:54even though he owns a motorized blade as well.
09:06Work like this, however,
09:07comes with a lot of physical risks.
09:11The cutters use their bare hands
09:13and must get dangerously close to the blade
09:15to make sure they get an accurate shape.
09:19It can also cause a lot of wear and tear on their skin,
09:22even eroding their fingerprints permanently.
09:31They are always breathing in marble dust.
09:33And while shaping the stones,
09:35they often work with water,
09:37which can numb their fingers in the cold months
09:39when temperatures in the area
09:40can drop to around 40 degrees.
09:43The temperature can go up to 4 to 8 degrees Celsius.
09:58Once the stone is cut,
10:00another worker will fine-tune the shape
10:02and polish it for a smoother edge using an emery wheel.
10:07Each cut stone is then lightly glued into the marble.
10:11The cutters then scrape an outline around the border
10:14to make sure they all fit perfectly.
10:16The elephant is heated by the fire,
10:18so the temporary glue will soften
10:20and the stones can be removed to complete the inlay.
10:24At this point, they use a variety of pointed metal tools
10:27to dig, cut, and scrape out a shallow recess
10:30in the marble several millimeters deep.
10:38To attach the stones to the marble,
10:40workers were said to have used a special glue
10:43consisting of sugar cane, beeswax, honey,
10:46lemon juice, marble dust, and lentils.
10:49This type of glue needed to be used right away
10:51and would expire quickly.
10:53Today, however, there are many synthetic alternatives
10:56that last longer and are easier to make.
10:59They mix an adhesive called auraldite
11:01with zinc powder and acrylic paint to create a paste.
11:05This will harden while the marble is being prepared.
11:08When ready for use, they heat the hardened glue
11:11with a hot coal so it's malleable
11:13and fill the entire gap in the marble.
11:18The stones are pressed one by one into the glue
11:21in the originally designed inlay pattern.
11:25Once the glue dries, they then use different types
11:28of sandpaper and polish pads to bring out the shine
11:31and smooth the surface.
11:34As they work, the pink dye is wiped away,
11:37leaving only white marble and brightly colored stonework.
11:41Artisans typically sell pieces like this
11:43to showrooms or marketplaces,
11:46which then resell them to buyers,
11:48many of whom are tourists visiting the Taj Mahal.
12:00The COVID-19 pandemic brought tourism to a halt,
12:05which led to a downturn in the marble inlay business.
12:19Arif says he hopes the government
12:20will one day open its own showroom
12:22and buy directly from artisans to help boost their business.
12:27Meanwhile, workers put in a lot of time
12:30and effort for little profit.
12:33But it's not just a decline in tourism
12:35that's a threat to the future of the craft.
12:37The job is not as lucrative as it once was,
12:40so many young people are opting for other fields.
13:02These days, Arif's son enjoys watching him work,
13:05but Arif says he'd never force him
13:08to become a Parchin Kari artist.
13:11Others, like Mohammed, don't plan on passing the legacy
13:14down to their kids.
13:32New workers are entering the trade, Arif says,
13:35but they are choosing simpler work
13:37that requires less training,
13:39like creating larger wall pieces or those with less stone.
13:48And the production of small, highly detailed pieces,
13:51the intoxicating work,
13:53is a challenge for the young.
14:02The work that's been passed down from generation to generation
14:06is in danger of being lost forever.
14:09But their creations will last for years,
14:13just as the Taj Mahal has withstood the test of time.