kuft

English

Alternative forms

• koft.

Etymology

A clipping of koftgari; compare kofta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʊft/

Noun

kuft (uncountable)

1. An Indian form of inlaid work on steel or iron, by damascening and encrusting gold on the metalwork.
   • 1874, Henry Hardy Cole, William Tayler, South Kensington Museum, Catalogue of the Objects of Indian Art Exhibited in the South Kensington Museum, page 322:

     No. 1, a gun from Lahore damascened with kuft work. The lock is beautifully enamelled with coloured flowers in relief on gold. The butt and bands are also enamelled. No. 2 , a finely wrought Lahore matchlock with engraved gold kuft (or inlaid work) at the base and nose, the bands of pierced silver work.

   • 1878, Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood, Handbook to the British Indian Section, page 56:

     Damascening is the art of encrusting one metal in another, not in crustae, which are soldered on or wedged into the metal surface to which they are applied, but in the form of wire, which by undercutting and hammering is thoroughly incorporated with the metal which it is intended to ornament. […] There is a cheap kuft work done by simply laying gold leaf on the steel plate, on which the ornamentation has been previously etched, which is easily made to adhere to the etching, and is then wiped off the rest of the surface.