Telangana artist makes micro sculpture of Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ in eye of needle

Ajay Kumar spent about 6 to 8 hours for over five months to finish the micro sculpture of world famous painter Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ and the height of the micro sculpture is 700 microns (0.7mm)

Warangal: Internationally acclaimed micro sculpture artist from Warangal, Mattewada Ajay Kumar has made a micro sculpture of world famous painter Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’, one of the most prominent artworks in the world, in the eye of a needle.

The Last Supper was painted by da Vinci between 1495 and 1498 for the Dominican monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The painting measures 15 feet in height and 29 feet in length.

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Based on the painting, Ajay Kumar created the micro sculpture, in which Jesus Christ breaks the bread with his 12 disciples and portrays the reactions of each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. The height of the micro sculpture is 700 microns (0.7mm). Ajay Kumar spent about six to eight hours for over five months to finish the micro sculpture.

He had to work hard to make the folding of clothes and sandals visible. He had to switch off the ceiling fans in his studio when sculpting minute details of the sculptures, as wind caused by the fan lifts the dust that could settle on sculptures disturbing them.

The plates and tumblers on the table were made of 24 carat gold. The cups are of 100 microns height and plates are of 50 microns width. It took nearly 70 hours to make them. Sculpting the dining table consumed a lot of time and Ajay Kumar suffered from headache and eye strain. During intense work sessions he had to hold his breath to keep his hands steady. When giving final touches to any micro sculpture, he has to control his breath and work with the rhythm of his heartbeat, he said.

The Last Supper micro sculpture is made of a special wax formulated by Ajay Kumar, plastic powder, 24 carat gold and tools as delicate as the hair of a caterpillar.

In the past, National Salt Satyagraha Memorial (NSSM), Dandi, Gujarat coordinator Sethu Das of IIT Bombay contacted Ajay Kumar on learning through media about a micro sculpture of the Dandi March -‘National Salt Satyagraha’ that he had created in the eye of a needle. Das requested Ajay Kumar to allow the Dandi March micro art to be displayed permanently at the NSSM responding to which the artist gifted the micro sculpture to the NSSM. The Prime Minister, who dedicated the memorial to the nation in January 2019, had appreciated Ajay Kumar for his skills.

Ajay Kumar, who has five entries in the Limca Book of Records, was also the winner of first prize in an international micro sculpture contest, ‘Art in a capsule’, conducted in 2019 by a world renowned pharmaceutical company ACG Group. He won US$ 5000 prize money and a certificate of appreciation in the contest that witnessed participation of 88 artists from across India, the US and Europe. He was also among five finalists in the Global Arts Award-2020, Changhai organised in China in which around 150 artists from across the world participated.