INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH CULTURE SOCIETY

Abstract:    This study examines the visual representation of musical instruments in three Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged wooden craft traditions of Andhra Pradesh: Etikoppaka (turned wood lacquer), Kondapalli (hand-carved softwood), and Nirmal (painted softwood). While these craft forms have been individually documented, no systematic comparative analysis exists of how each tradition visually encodes musical instruments as non-playable, decorative craft objects. Through ethnographic fieldwork, material culture analysis, and Panofsky's three-level iconological framework, this research demonstrates that artisans make distinct aesthetic choices when abstracting, stylising, or representing instruments, informed by material constraints, technical processes, and exposure to regional musical culture. The study reveals a unique inter-GI heritage phenomenon: the Bobbili Veena (itself a GI-tagged musical instrument craft) appears as a visual subject in both Etikoppaka and Kondapalli craft products, creating a three-way GI linkage previously undocumented in heritage literature. Findings contribute to craft studies, visual culture scholarship, and the discourse on the preservation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) by establishing craft objects as material repositories of regional musical memory and demonstrating how traditional crafts adapt to contemporary musical culture through selective instrument repertoires.